By: Nolan DeMott
On Saturday night, the Maryland Terrapins in their final road match of the season took on the Northwestern Wildcats. The Terrapins were coming off a straight set loss to Illinois the night before but were hoping to capitalize against a Wildcat team that had only won a single game in the Big 10 (1-16). Unfortunately for them, they were significantly outplayed and were defeated in straight sets (26-24, 25-22, 25-21).
Maryland had difficulty right out of the gate falling behind substantially early in the opening set. In fact, at one point they were down by as many as seven (18-11). Northwestern’s Sofia Lavin put on a show in the opening set, collecting seven kills in that set alone. The Terps though began to mount a comeback late in the set, going on a 12-4 run to take the lead 23-22. Maryland could not hold on to the lead however, dropping four of the final five points of the set to lose 26-24.
The Terrapins had another poor start to the second set, falling behind 10-5 early on. And while they managed to claw their way back several times, they seemed to be always one or two points behind. The Terps never managed a lead in the set and continued to struggle handling the Northwestern service. The Terps allowed Northwestern six service aces combined in the first two sets—three in each set. And considering that the Terrapins lost the first two sets by a combined five points, one could point to their inability to handle the serve as being a major contributor to that lack of success.
The Terps had their largest lead of the match in the third set—2 points—and kept it close right up until the end the set. Yet once again, the Wildcats pulled away, winning the set 25-21, in large part, due to the exemplary play of Symone Abbott, who torched the Terps with a whopping nine kills in that set alone.
Based on the overall records coming into the match, it was a disappointing loss for the Terrapins. Maryland has certainly been a more competitive team at home this season, but they were probably looking for more from this game regardless. To pick out one of the lone bright performers for the Terps, it was Liz Twilley, who, for the second time in three matches, led the team in kills with eleven and only made one error.
Maryland now returns home for their two final matches during the Thanksgiving break.
