By Megan Smedley

The Maryland volleyball team continued their struggles Saturday night as they lost to the University of Michigan in three straight sets: 11-25, 14-25, and 20-25.

This was the first weekend the Terps were without star outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher who injured her ankle in last weekend’s games. In Crutcher’s place, Kelsey Hrebenach was given the opportunity to shine.

Michigan came out strong in the first set with the help of Caroline Knope and her five kills. For Maryland, Hailey Murray and Emily Fraik each contributed two kills.

The second set saw more opportunities for Maryland on the hitting side as the team had nine kills but that also came with ten hitting errors. Libero Amy Dion and Samantha Higginbothem each had four and three digs respectively. Dion also suffered an arm injury during this set but pushed through the pain to remain in the game.

In the third set, the Terps played the best they had all game. Maryland was finally able to get their hands on the blocks as Hailey Murray had four blocking assists and Chavi St. Hill had three blocking assists. Setters Whitney Craigo and Carlotta Oggioni each had seven and five assists respectively.

The Terps ended the night with an overall hitting percentage of 14.6%. This loss drops the Terps to 7-12 overall and 0-8 in the Big Ten. They hope to snap this losing streak this week when they play Rutgers at the Xfinity Center Pavilion on Tuesday night.