By: Nolan DeMott

Coming off three straight home wins to open up the season, the Maryland Terrapins continued play this past weekend in The Kansas Invitational Tournament.

First up for Maryland was Arkansas, a team that had yet to record its first win entering action Friday morning. The Terps got into a bit of a battle with the winless Razorbacks, however, having to play deep into sets and, ultimately, dropping their first set of the season. On the stat sheet, Freshman Gia Milana once again led the team in kills with 18 but also had nine errors, the most thus far for her on the young season. Captain Kelsey Wicinski managed an impressive 19 digs, accounting for nearly one third of the team’s total 61. It was a grind throughout, but despite the struggle, the Terrapins still did persevere, grabbing their fourth straight win in four sets (25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19).

Next on the docket for UMD was the highly anticipated matchup with the fourth-ranked team in the nation, Kansas. The Terps battled the Jayhawk squad about as well as a team can while still losing in straight sets (24-26, 19-25, 23-25). Kelsey Wicinski put in another strong defensive effort for her team, but it wasn’t enough. Madison Rigdon led the Jayhawk attack with 18 kills and one ace, overpowering Maryland and sending them to their first defeat of 2016.

Wrapping up the Terrapins’ weekend was an afternoon bout with another winless team, Chicago State. Fortunately for Maryland, Chicago State proved to be a much easier task as the Terps handled them soundly in straight sets (25-11, 25-17, 25-14). In the match, the Terps put up their most efficient attacking performance of the tournament converting with a kill on 38 of 83 chances with only 18 errors.

Following the weekend’s results, the Terps are now 5-1 overall and will head back to the D.C. area to play in the Georgetown Classic next weekend.