Maryland volleyball started its toughest stretch of the season with a three-set loss against No. 9 Minnesota. 

The Terps entered the contest with a 14-12 season record after defeating Iowa in the Pavilion last Sunday. The Terps have been no stranger to road success, spotting a 7-3 record on the road this season. The last time Maryland faced a No. 9 team on the road was in October when they upset Purdue in three sets. 

Dreams of another upset evaporated quickly as the first set was all Minnesota. The Golden Gophers tallied 16 kills and hit close to .300% in the set, a mark that Maryland’s offense couldn’t match. The Terps had only eight kills and committed seven attack errors to go with it, resulting in a 25-12 set loss. 

Maryland’s offensive woes continued in the second set. The Terps repeated their set one total of eight kills, but this time matched it with eight attack errors. Maryland hit a zero percent mark lowering their hitting percentage to .012% in the match. 

Maryland lost the set 25-13.

One factor for the offensive woes is the lack of kills from Sam Csire. Through two sets, Csire had just one kill and a hitting percentage in the negatives.

 Head coach Adam Hughes did like that despite Csire’s offensive woes, she helped her team in other ways. 

“She wasn’t playing in a good rhythm today, and sometimes that happens in volleyball, but she was helping us in a lot of other ways, and that’s what great players do,” said Hughes. 

The Terps were very high-error in the first two sets as well. Maryland had 15 attack errors through the first two sets. They also had four other errors making their total errors through the first two sets, 19. A stat Hughes attributes to long rallies. 

“And with that comes, you know, just longer rallies lead to sometimes higher error, but at the same time, we had to stay aggressive because we’re searching for kills. So if you’re searching for kills, sometimes you have to take some aggressive hacks, and we weren’t able to find enough offense tonight,” said Hughes. 

The third set didn’t provide many remedies for the Terps’ play. The offense did manage to play better, slamming down 11 kills in the set, but it wasn’t enough. Minnesota fended off a late scoring run by Maryland to win set three 25-16.

The story of this match was the lack of Maryland offense. The offense looked out of sorts all night with missed hits and faulty swings. The Terps registered only 27 kills which is their second-lowest mark of the season. 

Maryland’s defense played well, registering 46 digs and keeping the ball alive for many long rallies. The Terps did get out blocked 4-6 in the matchup. This is just the second time Maryland has been out-blocked this season. 

The bright spots came in the returns of both Rainelle Jones and Erin Morrissey from their prior injuries. Jones had four kills and two blocks in her return to the hardwood. Morrissey smacked down three kills of her own in her first action this year. 

“And for the most part, [Morrissey] took some good swings, got some kills, and it’s what we needed,” said Hughes. 

Maryland will need more of Morrissey’s offense as they continue their brutal schedule with a matchup against No. 3 Wisconsin in Madison on Saturday.