By Zachary Sturgill
Looking for their first win in Big Ten conference play this season, Maryland volleyball had a lot to prove as it traveled to New Jersey to take on Rutgers.
With Maryland in the midst of the gauntlet that is its Big Ten schedule, the Terps looked to gain some momentum against a non-nationally ranked opponent.
Maryland fell for its third game in a row, but won a set on Friday, losing to the Scarlet Knights, 3-1.
Maryland dominated to start the first set, starting out with an eight-point run. Sophomore Duru Gökçen led the run for the Terps, picking up three blocks and one kill.
The domination continued from there, as the lead grew to 17-6.
However, Maryland struggled to put the Scarlet Knights away, who kept battling back and gaining momentum. Rutgers ended up going on a 14-3 run to tie the game at 20 apiece, capitalizing on many Maryland errors.
The Terps took a 24-22 lead, needing just one point to win. But they failed to get it after a service error and a quick Rutgers kill. The Scarlet Knights went on to win the set, 27-25.
The back and forth continued to begin the second set, as the two teams traded points to a tie at six.
Maryland took control from there, jumping out to an 18-9 lead off the back of three kills from senior Ajack Malual. This time, Terps held on to their lead this time, winning the set, 25-17.
Rutgers got off to a much faster start in the third set, building an early lead.
Throughout the set, the Terps failed to establish any kind of run that would allow them to get back into the game. The Scarlet Knights played much cleaner with a hitting percentage of 40.6% compared to Maryland’s 18.8%. Rutgers won the set 25-20, taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
Rutgers started the fourth set with another early lead and the Scarlet Knights dominated from there. Maryland again struggled to find momentum after a slow start and couldn’t recover.
The Terps only had seven kills throughout the set, and ultimately fell, 25-16, to end the match.
Maryland will return home for a tough challenge on Sunday, as they take on the reigning national champions, No. 16 Penn State.
