Maryland volleyball fell disappointingly in another home-court matchup against a Big Ten opponent.
A sweep was again in store on Sunday.
The Terps were defeated by Michigan State 0-3.
After losing the first set, which included a 12-point run from the Spartans, it was difficult for the Terps to bounce back quickly enough.
“I attribute some of that to being young and us trying to find some solutions a little bit faster,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “You don’t have the ability to get those same point runs the opposite way.”
Each set was crushing, with scores of 13-25, 23-25 and 23-25.
The Terps struggled in offensive execution, especially today, with a .000 hitting percentage in the first set.
In the next two sets, the Terps began to get some momentum, leading at the media break. However, they were unable to close the deal.
The Spartans proved to put up a difficult block for the Terps to get around, racking up 11 blocks, resulting in a 14.7% on-net percentage for Maryland.
The Terps also struggled with serves, tallying five errors at the service line and six reception errors.
To combat the way the match was going for the Terps, fans got to see some athletes they don’t usually see on the court.
During the 12-point run in the first set, senior defensive specialist Alex McGillivray came into the serve receive position for outside hitter Ava Brown and immediately dug up a serve to set up a kill for freshman Marlee Sivak to end the Spartan streak.
Freshman defensive specialist Addie Canady came on during the second and third sets in the back row to pick up a dig.
Another addition to the rotation and first time on the court was freshman middle blocker, Ioanna Dimitriou. She racked up two kills and 1.5 blocks to help the Terps.
“She’s made a big stride in the last literally three weeks, and I thought she did a good job, just taking care of some easy plays, made some good block moves, and you know we’re trying to get a little bit more offense to her,” Hughes said.
Aside from the unfamiliar faces on the court, offensive beacons of hope were middle blocker Eva Rohrbach and freshmen outside hitters Brooklynne Brass and Ava Brown.
Rohrbach proved to be lethal with kills from the slide play, tallying eight kills, and earned the team points with calculated tips. She also contributed three blocks, leading the team.
Brass and Brown added 10 and seven kills, respectively, showcasing Maryland’s young talent again.
While the Terps did improve throughout the match, they still gave long runs to Michigan State, with a seven-point streak late in the second set proving to be fatal.
Hughes said that while the team is disappointed after a loss, they are still motivated to improve.
“We knew this was going to be a bit of a grind, but it was a good thing for us. I thought we had two pretty good weeks of practice, and next week we need to take another step after a tough outing,” Hughes said.
