For the entirety of October, the Terrapins volleyball team’s results didn’t change. It played nine times and lost all nine matches. Yet no matter how bad things got during the Terps’ nine-match losing streak, the players refused to switch at least one thing up.
In loss after loss, the players never changed their order on the sideline during matches or sat down during a match. In fact, for the Terps, it’s trying times like these that lend added importance to rituals and superstitions.
“We’re not doing anything differently during this losing streak,” coach Tim Horsmon said, “but I expect them to do whatever they need to do to get themselves ready for matches.”
Whether it’s relying on physical prowess or psychological confidence, the Terps (9-16, 3-10 ACC) are all in as they prepare to host Clemson (16-8, 8-5) and Georgia Tech (13-11, 6-7) this weekend. In the solitude of the locker room before a match, the squad starts off game day with certain “words of wisdom” written on the board that rarely vary from match to match. “Go Terps!” and “Win!” stand side by side, even as the second notion was absent for the entire month of October.
From there, the Terps’ rituals become even more original. They proceed to sing the school’s fight song together, only at a quickened pace. And when they finally emerge from the locker room to center court, they gather into a circle, setting their right feet together in one final show of unity before they turn to face the opposition.
The team’s traditions are not limited to the group dynamic, either. Several players have their own individual routines they perform before taking the court. Outside hitter Mary Cushman, for instance, draws a peace sign on her wrist before every match, and the ink can linger visibly for days afterward.
“It makes me relax and when I get frustrated or whatnot, I just look at it and it’s like a calming thing,” said Cushman, who also has a corresponding tattoo of a peace sign on the inside of her ankle.
Cushman never begins a match or set without re-strapping her ankle brace and retying her shoes, and she always high-fives libero Sarah Harper first and setter Remy McBain last in her team-wide go-around.
McBain, meanwhile, demonstrates a free-throw-like approach to serving, bouncing the ball in numerals of three. The junior, who ranks fifth all time in assists at this university, also wears her hair the same way for every match during a season.
However it comes, the Terps are hoping for an edge this weekend in matters both in and out of their control. With seven matches left in the season and a record seven matches under .500, the Terps will be looking to salvage whatever they have left of the season. The Tigers come into College Park winners of three of their last four matches, while Georgia Tech sports the conference’s leader in kills per set in outside hitter Monique Mead.
But the Terps still have confidence, and they’ll be standing in the same order they have all season on the sideline this weekend.
munson@umdbk.com
