Call it homesickness, call it motion sickness from the bus, even call it claustrophobia. Since 2006, the Terrapin volleyball team has struggled mightily to win on the road.

The Terps enter the weekend just one match shy of .500 with road meetings with Virginia Tech and Virginia on the schedule. For the Terps to climb over .500 for the first time since 2005, the Terps will have to do something they have done just once since then – win road matches in the ACC.

During the Terps’ ACC championship run from 2003 to 2005, the Terps had a gaudy .629 winning percentage on the road in ACC play. Since the Terps’ last ACC championship in 2005, they’ve won just one ACC road game while slipping into the middle of the pack.

The Terps have won four of their last seven ACC matches dating to last season, including two this past weekend. The Terps need to start winning on the road if they hope to contend for a title this season, something easier said than done in the ACC. Home teams have a .621 winning percentage in ACC games so far this season.

“After getting the two victories last weekend, we understand as a team that we have to be able to snag some road wins,” coach Janice Kruger said. “It’s very difficult to get road wins. The pattern that is going on right now, the teams leading the conference have had more home matches than away.”

The Terps have not beaten Virginia or Virginia Tech since 2005, and both teams swept their season series with the Terps in 2006.

The Terps spent the week sticking with their self-improvement theme, working more on their own quality of play than heavily scouting and adapting to their opponents’ game plans.

“We have been working on our game a lot this week,” Kruger said. “We have our scouting plan for the teams, and we are going to go out and do our best to play the best volleyball we can on our side of the court, and try to minimize the opponent’s offense. Both teams have strong defenses, so we need to be patient and not give points away on unforced errors.”

In addition to focusing on the error problems in practice, Kruger also placed a heavy emphasis on terminating the ball and finishing their offensive sets with kills.

“We have worked to improve our hitting percentage and attacking this week,” Kruger said. “Also, we have worked on our ball control in match-like situations to increase our attack arsenal.”

With the Terps in position to both win their first road conference match of the season and move to .500 over the weekend, the team’s hard work will be put to the test.

“I expect that we go out and play with a lot of passion, work hard and show progress,” Kruger said. “We just want to out work our opponents.”

n Terp Note: After transitioning early in the season to middle blocker, senior Jade Brown moved back to outside hitter last weekend, where she was an All-ACC preseason pick. Senior outside hitter Beth Gillming was named ACC Player of the Week. … Kruger said junior setter Tedi Doucet is out of her walking boot and two to three weeks away from returning.

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