By Justin Fitzgerald

In front of a raucous crowd at the Xfinity Pavilion, Adreené Elliott had 18 kills to power Maryland (13-15, 3-11) to a 3-0 victory over #12 Ohio State (19-6, 8-5), 25-23, 28-26, 27-25. The win was the first against a ranked opponent since October 17, 2010 when the Terps beat #22 Florida State in 5 sets.

“Tonight is all about the kids. They played really hard, they competed. I thought they did the things you need to do to have success at this level,” head coach Steve Aird said.

Tension built throughout the match, and when an Ashlyn MacGregor and Angel Gaskin block deflected off of Ohio State’s Elizabeth Campbell, the crowd erupted.

“Just hearing the crowd cheer, we all got chills,” freshman Kelsey Wicinski said.

The Terps had to battle for the beginning of the first set without Elliott, who checked back in with Maryland down 8-6. After the Buckeyes won the next point, Elliott recorded back to back kills to start a 6-0 run and take a 12-9 lead, forcing Ohio State to call timeout. Elliott recorded consecutive service aces later in the set to extend the lead to 18-13, which forced Ohio State to call another timeout. Elliott was taken out again after the timeout, and Ohio State stormed back to tie the match at 21. After a kill from Liz Twilley made it 22-21, Elliott came back in and recorded a kill on set point to take it 25-23.

The Terps found themselves down 9-7 in the second set, but scored the next four points to take an 11-9 lead. An Elliott ace built the lead to 17-13, but Ohio State didn’t back down. The Buckeyes scored the next four points to tie the set at 17. Elliott responded with a kill to make it 18-17, but Ohio State’s Taylor Sandbothe responded with a kill to tie it. Maryland scored the next two points to gain a 20-18 advantage, but Ohio State reeled off four straight points with three coming on Maryland errors.

Ohio State scored two out of the next three points to make it 24-23, but Liz Twilley responded with a kill to tie it and put the set into extra points. A kill from Katie Mitchell gave the Buckeyes a 25-24 lead, but Maryland fought back again from set point to take a 26-25 lead and win the set 28-26.

After the intermission, Maryland looked fatigued and Ohio State jumped out to a 10-7 lead. After cutting the lead to 10-9, 3 straight Buckeye kills pushed the lead to 13-9 and Aird called timeout. Maryland continued to fight after the timeout, but Ohio State still had a 15-12 lead. The Terps scored the next four points, including two kills from Elliott to take a 16-15 lead. Back and forth play continued, but the Terps found themselves on the brink again after a Mitchell kill gave Ohio State a 24-22 lead. Kills from Elliott and Twilley tied it at 24, and after dropping the next point the Ohio State had another set point at 25-24. But Maryland scored the next three points to take the set 27-25 and win the match.

Despite the big win, Aird isn’t satisfied yet.

“This is isn’t the Super Bowl. It’s a nice win against a really good team and I’m happy for the kids but we need to get better tomorrow,” Aird said.

The Terps look to keep the momentum going Wednesday against #16 Purdue. The game will take place in the Xfinity Pavilion at 6 p.m.