Tim Horsmon has seen a lot in his 14 years coaching college volleyball. But he’s never experienced anything quite like the recent slew of injuries ravaging his Terrapins team.
Outside hitters Mary Cushman (concussion) and Kamrin Gold (ankle), two of the team’s top offensive threats, have both missed the past four games. Earlier this week, outside hitter Emily Fraik — one of the players helping fill the void left by the injured stars — collided with defensive specialist Kaitlyn King in practice. They each suffered concussions, and will both miss this weekend’s action.
Horsmon’s normal rotation works in up to 10 players per match. But when the two teams atop the ACC standings — Miami and No. 12 Florida State — visit College Park this weekend, the Terps will be without four of those usual contributors.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, not even close,” Horsmon said. “In 14 years of coaching I’ve had three players with concussions, and now we’ve had three concussions in two weeks.”
Those ailments place marquee matchups with the Hurricanes (14-3, 6-1 ACC) tonight and the Seminoles (14-2, 6-1) on Sunday at arguably the worst possible time for the Terps (10-8, 2-5). They dropped two contests last week to ACC bottom-feeders Duke and Wake Forest and their two conference victories place them ninth in the league standings.
But despite those circumstances, the Terps won’t be timid about hosting the ACC’s best.
They’ll be looking forward to it.
“The coaching staff has really prepared us for this weekend and we’re excited,” setter Remy McBain said. “It’s a good opportunity to play and especially since they are really good teams and we know we’ll have to play well.”
Playing well against the Hurricanes and Seminoles will be difficult, though, especially considering the talent of their defensive anchors. Middle blockers Alexis Mourning (Miami) and Sareea Freeman (Florida State) shared ACC Player of the Week honors this week, and the Terps will have to go up against them without three players who account for about than 30 percent of their 863 kills this season.
”We don’t have any time to take a practice off and not work as hard as we can,” said setter Mackenzie Dagostino. “We’ve got to be consistent and we’re doing that right now.”
Productive practice time is at premium because the injuries have forced Horsmon to make some lineup changes. The Terps plan to move some of their middle blockers to the outside to help replace their three sidelined outside hitters, and libero Sarah Harper may even be forced take some hits from the backline.
At 5-foot-4, Harper is far from a typical offensive threat. But she was a record-setting hitter in high school, and the Terps are running out of options.
“She has the talent to do it, and she’s maybe one more injury or one player not playing well from us making that change,” Horsmon said. “That just shows how thin we really are.”
The Terps do have some reason for optimism, though. Two weeks ago the Terps battled Virginia Tech for five sets without Cushman and Gold. Miami’s lone ACC blemish? A 3-0 loss to the Hokies.
Cushman and Gold have been out for the last four matches, so the Terps are accustomed to playing with makeshift lineups. So while the unprecedented string of injuries has left the Terps limited in numbers, there’s no limit to their confidence. “It really puts players on the spot, we have to play hard and play well,” said Dagostino. “We’ve done it before and we can do it again.”
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