By Joe Foley

In what was their seventh straight match against a nationally ranked opponent, Maryland fell to No.4 Penn State in consecutive sets (20-25,11-25,13-25) Saturday night in State College, PA.

The Terps (13-19, 3-15) battled in the first set, trading points with the Nittany Lions. Senior outside hitter Adreene Elliot had a kill to give Maryland a 7-6 lead early in the set. The opening set featured 12 ties and five lead changes. But Penn State (25-4,14-4) would use a 5-0 run to separate with an 18-15 lead, which they were able to maintain for the rest of the set. Five service errors hurt the Terps, as Penn State won it 25-20.

Penn State went on to overpower Maryland in the following two sets. The Nittany Lions forced a timeout from Maryland head coach Steve Aird after jumping out to a 10-3 lead in the second set. The Terps failed to gain any momentum, only sparingly earning kills. As a team, they hit .091 in the second set, with ten kills and seven errors on 33 total attempts. Penn State sophomore middle Haleigh Washington finished the set with one of her seven kills to give her team a 2-0 lead.

The third set started back and forth. But despite the score being tied at 8 early, Penn State used an 11-2 run to distance themselves from the Terps. A pair of blocks from Washington and outside hitter Ali Frantti gave Penn State a 23-12 lead, as they won the set three points later. The Nittany Lions out-blocked the Terrapins 11-3 in the match, using their size to their advantage. Leading Penn State were redshirt freshman setter Bryanna Weiskircher, who had 33 assists and three aces, as well as senior libero Kendall Pierce who added 12 digs.

Elliot carried Maryland with a match-high of 12 kills. Elliott is also now only one block away from setting a new Maryland record, currently sitting at 96 career blocks with two games to play. Freshman libero Kelsey Wicinski had 13 digs and junior setter Whitney Craigo added 22 assists for the Terrapins.

Maryland volleyball will honor its five current seniors in their final home match against Iowa on Wednesday in College Park. The five graduating players are: Dani Bozzini, Amy Dion, Adreene Elliott, Emily Fraik, and Kelsey Hrebenach. The honor ceremony will take place before the match, which begins at 7 p.m. The Terps last home game can also be seen on BTN Plus.