After back-to-back away game sweeps against No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 21 Minnesota, Maryland volleyball wanted to return to College Park and pick up a win.
Unfortunately, they were unable to do so in a five-set loss of 25-22, 21-25, 26-24, 17-25 to Illinois.
“For us to take another step, it would be some consistency,” head coach Adam Hughes said.
The game was close, and despite Maryland’s starting sets strong, it felt as if the win was slowly slipping through their fingers as the game went on.
Maryland took advantage of Illinois mistakes in the beginning, having two attack errors to the Terps’ zero.
Despite those mistakes, there was never more than three points of separation between the two teams.
With a particularly well-placed kill between two blockers late in the first to make it 22-20, Bryant added separation as Illinois started making way, which she did at several important times during the set.
Sydney Bryant had an exciting night, contributing six of Maryland’s 15 kills in the first set, and 17 kills and 37 total attacks on the night. Bryant was putting a lot of pressure on Illinois throughout the game.
Maryland’s last two points to end the set, and their first point to start the second set, all came from Illinois errors.
A moment that got Maryland’s third point was after a reception from Illinois flew back towards Maryland’s band and as a player ran to recover it, a Maryland band member snatched it out of the air. It was unclear whether the player would have been able to recover it in time; it was decided Terps point with no challenge, hypothetically Maryland’s band also contributed a point to the game tonight.
Illinois got their first lead of the game with a service ace to make it eight to seven, and held on to that lead until a Brooklynne Brass kill to make it 11-13 spurred on a quick run by the Terps to tie the set back up,14-14.
Brass, who despite a good first set, slowed down throughout the game, having 11 kills on 47 total attacks.
Maryland regained their lead from an attack error by Illinois to make it 16-15. Freshman defensive specialist Raina Chwialkowski had many crucial saves within the second set that helped the Terps not fall too far behind.
Unfortunately, the Terps were unable to keep it up, letting the lead slip, making some costly errors of their own, and losing the set 25-21.
Maryland went on a 3-03-0 run which ended on a service error to give Illinois their first point.
Eva Rohrbach and Soro Toth made a point out of what looked like a lost cause, with Toth just barely tipping the ball up enough for Rohrbach to swing it before it hit the net and fell on the Terps side.
Rohrbach had 12 kills on 35 total attacks for the night.
The Terps were ahead most of the third, but Illinois took the lead around halfway through. Illinois cleaned up their play significantly throughout the sets, with Maryland’s defense at the front of the net helping keep them in the game due to what seemed like an uptick in mistakes during the third.
With five total blocks in the third set and nine in the whole game,
The game slowed down near the end, with the two teams going point for point. With big kills from Bryant and Rohrbach, Maryland helped keep up with Illinois.
Back-to-back blocks from the Terps secured a 26-25 third-set win.
The fourth set started hot for the Terps once again but ended up falling apart with Maryland committing more attack errors (six to four) and fewer blocks (five to one) than Illinois for the first time in the entire game. This contributed to the 25-17 loss.
Illinois took an 8-4 lead in the fifth set, where it felt as if Maryland had simply lost steam. They were unable to recover, falling 15-8 in the fifth and final set.
“I was pretty frustrated in game five. I know they won it. I thought Illinois was making better defensive plays in some key situations, and a pretty young grouping needs to see what it looks like to be a top 30 team,” Hughes said.
“But realistically, I’m thrilled that I’ve got a locker room of humans who are bummed that they’re not beating top 30 teams…But I’m also very grateful that they aren’t satisfied, and that they remain hungry, and hurt from a loss like today.”
