#15 Adreené Elliott taps the ball over the net during Wednesday’s 3-1 victory against Pittsburgh
When the Terrapins volleyball team dropped its first match this season against Radford on Friday, it also suffered a different kind of loss.
While diving for the ball, outside hitter Adreené Elliott landed awkwardly on top of her hand, fracturing it.
The team is unsure how long Elliott will be sidelined, but she won’t play in Seattle today and tomorrow when the Terps take on No. 5 Washington and No. 10 USC, respectively, in the Pac-12/Big Ten Showcase. And after this week, the Terps begin conference play.
So the Terps move into the meat of their schedule needing to replace the senior, who coach Steve Aird called the team’s best player.
“Any time was going to be a bad time to lose Adreené,” middle blocker Catie Coyle said. “We can only make the best of it. We at least have experience with the team; we’re comfortable with the people who are behind her.”
Aird said several players will be asked to help replace Elliott, though Coyle is likely to see the most increased workload. The senior played 75 sets last year and placed fifth on the team in blocks.
Middle blocker Kelsey Hrebenach and setter Whitney Craigo will also see time as outside hitter, Aird said.
“I don’t think you just do a straight-up replacement for [Elliott],” Aird said. “I’ll have to be really creative about the lineups.”
Ashleigh Crutcher will be the one to fill in at Elliott’s position, however, transitioning from the right-side hitter spot, where she has spent all of this season.
Crutcher played the outside hitter position last season, when she was named to the All-ACC second team, so she is not concerned about the move.
“Volleyball is volleyball,” Crutcher said. “Playing on the right side or the outside, you just hit the ball as hard as you can and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
Crutcher also said she is comfortable with Coyle’s ability to enter the mix.
“[Coyle] is one of our captains,” Crutcher said. “And she works hard every day in the gym. I feel like everyone on the team has the most confidence in her.”
Coyle hopes her ability to block will help the team this weekend. She also believes that, though she isn’t as talented as Elliott, she has enough athleticism and intelligence to keep her team in games.
And after playing a reserve role to begin the year, Coyle said she is excited for the chance to display her talents against some of the nation’s top competition.
“I really appreciate any floor time I can get, any manner I can get it,” Coyle said. “But I don’t feel that my role has changed all that much even if I’m on the floor. … So just to be able to showcase [my talent] is a big opportunity for me.”
And though Elliott’s absence will hurt the Terps, Aird believes some of her teammates will get valuable experience they might not have received otherwise.
But despite the “next person up” attitude that Aird has instilled in his players entering a weekend of stiff competition, the first-year sideline general still realizes the rest of the year will be tough, especially if Elliott misses an extended period.
“You never know when something happens where you don’t have the opportunity to play,” Aird said. “They have to value the opportunity when they have it and play really hard when they’re healthy.”
