Maryland lost its second road game of the season, being swept by No. 1 Nebraska.

The Terps came into this matchup following a tremendous performance against Iowa Hawkeyes. Maryland defeated Iowa in four sets. The win featured stand-out performances from Laila Ivey and Anastasia Russ, who had 20 kills combined to make up for a poor offensive night from Sam Csire.

The Cornhuskers come into the matchup after being upset by No. 5 Wisconsin in three sets.

The two teams matched up earlier in the season, which resulted in a Nebraska win. That contest proved to be a battle of defenses. Both teams held the other to their worst hitting percentage of the year. The two teams rank in the top five in the Big Ten in blocks per set, showing how dominant both defenses have been.

Nebraska displayed their defense right from the outset, blocking six shots in the first set and keeping the Terps under a .1 hitting percentage. Maryland didn’t help their cause, giving away five points via five serving errors in the set. The Terps lost the first set, 25-16.

The second set wasn’t much better for the Terps. Nebraska went on four separate scoring runs throughout the set, their largest being an 8-0 run that brought the score to 19-5 in favor of Nebraska. The Terps had no footing and went on to lose, 25-9.

Maryland’s poor play seemed to stem from their inability to control the ball off Nebraska’s serve. Maryland gave up four aces in the first two sets, and every Nebraska serve seemed to give them trouble. The mishandling led to the Terps being out of the system on most of their possessions, throwing off the offense’s tempo.

“We were just far enough off the net, and the tempo kind of goes out of the equation,” said head coach Adam Hughes. “Looking at the numbers, and we’re hitting some balls out, I didn’t think we missed some good challenges there.”

Maryland hoped to clean that up coming out of intermission, but they clearly had not. Nebraska jumped out to a five-point lead early and never relinquished it. The positive for the Terps was that the fight from them seemed to come back.

They kept cutting into the Nebraska lead with multiple 3-0 scoring runs, even cutting the lead to just two points. That fight couldn’t push them past the Cornhuskers. Nebraska ended the set on a 3-0 run of their own to win the set, 25-19.

Maryland struggled this whole match, getting outplayed in most categories of play and having to contend with a ruckus Nebraska crowd. The Terps never once gained any footing on either side of the ball, and the momentum never left the Nebraska bench.

“I think it was both the environment. I mean, it was a sold-out crowd. I think some people had jitters, and it was difficult to get going. I think at that point because Nebraska did jump on us quick,” said Milan Gomillion. “And by the time you know we started to fight back, it was basically too late.”

The offense for Maryland was almost non-existent. The Terps had a hitting percentage of zero for the match combining for 24 kills and 24 attack errors. No Terp had more than six kills, and their two best scoring options, Ivey and Csire ended with a negative hitting percentage.

This was the second match in a row that Csire was held under double-digit kills and under a .1 hitting percentage. Coach Hughes believes that his “big gun” will get back to being herself.

“She’s going to learn now what it’s like if she’s going to be our big gun. She’s going to have to step up to the call, and, you know, I believe that she’ll get there,” said Hughes.

Maryland’s defense wasn’t much better, allowing Nebraska to hit .263% and a total of 38 kills for the match. The Terps only blocked five shots, getting out blocked by Nebraska 12-5.

Maryland will need to put this one in the rearview as quickly as possible before they play No. 11 Penn State on the road Wednesday.