Maryland volleyball coach Steve Aird didn’t care too much about errors, so long as his squad put in a solid effort against his alma mater Penn State.
He knew the chances of a Terps upset over the No. 3 Nittany Lions were slim, despite a home match on the Xfinity Center main court in front of 4,127 people.
“May as well go out swinging,” he said after Friday’s sweep over Rutgers, in which Maryland racked up 21 errors.
But after toppling the Scarlet Knights, the Terps’ tidier play didn’t get the job done against the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Penn State took the match in straight sets (17-25, 11-25, 23-25).
“The fact that we can say Maryland and Penn State are in a battle is a pretty cool sentence,” Aird said. “Penn State’s in the conversation to win a national championship, and as much as it pains me to lose to them I’m pretty sure that’s what I expected.”
Outside hitter Erika Pritchard and Gia Milana each posted nine kills, but Penn State middle blocker Haleigh Washington notched 11 with a .588 hitting percentage.
Aird’s roster, which features 12 underclassmen, varies greatly from the one he helped assemble as an assistant coach in Happy Valley four years prior.
Penn State (15-1, 5-1 Big Ten) is ranked No. 1 in RPI and bolstered by seven seniors. Aird and associate head coach Adam Hughes joined Maryland (13-5, 2-4) after securing the top-ranked recruiting class in 2014 for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions have picked up two national championships since Maryland’s last winning season in 2012. Penn State coach Russ Rose has notched at least 22 wins in each of his 38 full season in State College. His protégés — Aird, Hughes and Maryland assistant coach Kristen Carpenter — all played under him or coached alongside him.
After the match, the three lined up for a handshake and hug with Rose.
“He knows what it’s like. He knows how hard you work,” Aird said. “You work all week to get ready for a weekend and it comes down to one or two swings or one or two points.”
Pritchard, the 29th-ranked recruit in the 2017 class, gave the Terps an early 4-2 lead in set one with a cross-court kill. But Penn State senior outside hitter Simone Lee promptly tied it with a kill and a block.
The Terps showed flashes of the potential surrounding their back-to-back ranked recruiting classes. Middle blocker Jada Gardner — the 68th-ranked player in the country prior to joining the Terps — tied the first set at seven with a kill.
“We wanted to play super hard for coach just to show him that we have his back and that we’re working hard for him,” outside/opposite hitter Samantha Drechsel said.
But the room for growth was clear. Washington picked up an ace after Milana and libero Kelsey Wicinski didn’t communicate who was collecting the serve. It rattled between them and landed for a point. Penn State had seven blocks in its 25-17 first-set win.
After a high-energy first set, Penn State dominated affairs in set two. A 3-2 Maryland lead turned into an 11-point deficit after a 13-1 run for the Nittany Lions. That deficit expanded to a 14-point set loss, 25-11. Penn State hit .500 while Maryland hit .045.
“[The freshmen] are showing glimpses of it, [but] it’s just about consistency,” Aird said. “They can play with everyone in the country. It’s about, can you do it day in and day out.”
The Terps forced Rose to take a timeout after jumping to an 8-4 lead in set three, and later Maryland was tied at 23. But the Nittany Lions’ net game helped secure a 25-23 third-set victory and a sweep over the Terps.
Penn State showed its physicality at the net, outblocking Maryland 12-4. While the Terps had 20 errors, Aird said many were a result of top-tier blocking from Penn State.
“I came here to play teams like Penn State and to compete against them, and hopefully one day take that game or take a set,” Milana said. “I feel like we have that in us, we just need that consistency to be able to do it.”
