Maryland volleyball beat Iowa in four sets to earn its 13th win of the year.
The Terps came into the matchup after a brutal homestand in which they won only one of the seven sets they played over the weekend. The first loss came against No. 13 ranked Penn State and the second loss was a sweep against a Northwestern team that the Terps had swept a week before.
The Hawkeyes came into the matchup losers of four straight. The losing streak followed the Hawkeyes’ first conference victory against Indiana on October 8. Iowa’s struggles on defense have cost them all year. They came into the match allowing 13 kills per set.
The Hawkeyes’ defensive woes continued from the start. Maryland tallied 13 total kills in set one and held control of the set the entire way. The Terps won the set 25-18 due to two 4-0 scoring runs late in the set.
Maryland’s performance took a complete turnaround in set two. The Terps fell behind 10-8 early in the set. The Terps tied the set at 10, but a little after that, Iowa exploded on a 5-0 run that allowed them to gain a six-point lead. The Terps lost the set 25-16 going into intermission.
The Terps really struggled on serve to receive in the second set giving up four aces after not allowing any in the first set. Maryland’s other struggles come on the defensive end. Iowa middle blocker Delaney McSweeney went a perfect seven for seven on attacks in the first two sets.
Maryland came out in the third set looking to keep McSweeney in check, and that’s what they did. McSweeney had zero kills on three shots in the set. The Terps won the set easily due to three separate scoring runs spread throughout the set. This set copied the score of the first, Maryland winning 25-18.
Just like the third set mimicked the first, the fourth seemed to mimic the second. Maryland fell behind early in the set via a 6-0 scoring run that allowed Iowa to earn a 12-5 advantage on the scoreboard.
Maryland slowly built points and eventually cut Iowa’s lead to one. Maryland’s persistence and determination showed late being able to tie the score late in the fourth set. The Terps turned it up from there, scoring three of the last four points to secure the match victory.
Middle blocker Anastasia says the mindset during crunch time was to finish the job.
“Even though we were down, we were talking a lot about like one point at a time to keep closing the gap, and we were able to finish it and pull through,” said Russ.
This was a really strong performance for a Maryland team coming off two losses.
The offense played well, putting up 48 kills, despite an off night from outside hitter Sam Csire where she only had seven kills on 35 attacks. The offense was boosted by great performances from Anastasia Russ and Laila Ivey, who each had 10 kills in the match.
“I thought [Ivey] did a good job. She was able to stay farther inside and start challenging the libero a little bit more cross-court,” said head coach Adam Hughes.
Russ also had a dominant defensive performance leading the Terps with eight total blocks in the match. The defense had 13 total blocks on the match, as well as 60 digs, but the largest performance came in the last two sets holding McSweeney to just four kills in sets three and four.
“I think it’s more of a defensive effort than it was blocking. I thought from assignments, we were in pretty good spots,” Hughes said. “She makes it very challenging to defend. So, I thought we made a few nice plays on her.”
Maryland will hope to keep the momentum flowing from this game into their game against No. 1 ranked Nebraska, though Russ says it’s just another game.
“We’re just going to kind of carry what we did tonight into that match, no matter who’s on the other side of the net. We’re just going to play our best,” said Russ.
Maryland’s matchup against Nebraska will be on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
