The Terrapins volleyball team huddled together after falling behind, 24-18, in the fourth set of Friday’s match with Wake Forest. The Terps were up two sets to one, and they could have been content sending the match into a decisive fifth set.
Yet as the Terps broke the huddle, each player seemed motivated. And they played like it, too.
Middle blocker Kelsey Hrebenach’s four service aces led the Terps on an eight-point run that helped the team stave off set point six different times and earn a 3-1 victory over the Demon Deacons. That momentum carried to yesterday’s Senior Night, as the Terps beat Duke, 3-2, to secure their first weekend sweep of ACC competition this season.
And it all began with the mindset the group had during that fourth set Friday.
“We really wanted to execute as a team and not have to go to a fifth set where anything can happen,” said Hrebenach, who celebrated her 19th birthday by leading the Terps’ late comeback. “We were just like, ‘OK, we are not going to lose this game.’”
The Terps seemed to have a similar approach to yesterday’s match, when they pulled out a victory in a contest that boasted 50 ties.
The two victories came in different forms, however.
On Friday, the Terps relied on outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher’s match-high 23 kills to set the stage for Hrebenach’s heroics. It marked the third consecutive contest Crutcher had notched at least 20 kills.
Yesterday, though, the Terps used a more balanced attack to outlast the Blue Devils. Six different players recorded more than seven kills as the Terps slammed home a season-high 72 kills.
“It was an amazing win, everybody contributed,” senior setter Remy McBain said. “It was very even. It wasn’t just like one person was dominating.”
McBain led that versatile effort, finishing one kill shy of a triple-double. She notched nine kills, 12 digs and a match-high 35 assists.
For McBain, though, the biggest challenge was putting aside her emotions during her last game at Comcast Pavilion.
“We’ve been through a lot these last four years,” she said. “So I was very, very emotional, but it’s awesome to end it like this.”
In McBain’s final weekend playing in College Park, she was rewarded with a pair of victories. And with five regular season contests left in her career, the Terps are playing their best volleyball of the season.
After dropping six straight, they have won four out of their past five matches. This weekend marked the first time the Terps played consistently enough to secure consecutive ACC victories.
And as Friday night’s furious comeback showed, the Terps are learning how to win.
“We’ve been close a lot and this weekend we finally found ways to win,” coach Tim Horsmon said. “Now we know what winning is, and if we get close we know we can finish.”
sportsdbk@gmail.com
