Maryland volleyball coach Steve Aird said before Tuesday practice that this was No. 16 Michigan State’s year. With six seniors in the Spartans’ starting lineup, he views them as a Big Ten title challenger. Last week, they upset then-No. 1 Minnesota and then-No. 5 Wisconsin on the road.
In Michigan State’s conference home opener, they showed their strength against a Terps team in the thick of a rebuild. The Spartans swept Maryland (14-25, 14-25, 21-25). Maryland suffered its second Big Ten defeat and dropped to 12-3 this year.
“When people lose, it’s easy to point the finger,” Aird said. “I didn’t get the team ready to go. At the end of the day I’m the head coach, and I have to do a better job of getting them to understand how to play together and fight and compete on the road.”
Outside hitter Erika Pritchard led Maryland with nine kills and a .280 hitting percentage, but no other attacker hit above a .200 clip. Michigan State outside hitter Holly Toliver produced 12 kills with just two errors.
The Spartans’ attack often drew Maryland out of system in the first frame, leading to a .033 hitting percentage. Opposite/outside hitter Samantha Drechsel hit Maryland’s eighth error long, closing the frame, 25-14.
After nine aces in Maryland’s last win over Indiana, it struggled with service errors. The Terps picked up three errors in the first frame, and outside hitter Gia Milana hit her jump serve too long to open the second set. They finished with 11 errors to just two aces, while the Spartans hammered home nine aces.
“I don’t think it’s something that one match dictates that we’re a terrible serving team,” Aird said. “We had a bad night, and part of it is they put pressure on you because they’re a very good team. So, you’ve got to take some chances from the end line, and sometimes you have good nights and sometimes you have bad nights.”
Maryland held a pair of two-point leads over Michigan State in set two. Both times the Spartans tied it. Then, Michigan State went on an 8-2 run and forced Aird to call a timeout, trailing 14-10. The stoppage didn’t falter Michigan State’s play, as it added on four more points and Aird burned his second timeout, down 18-10.
Maryland again held early third-set leads, but after the game was tied at six, Michigan State controlled to complete the sweep.
Saturday night, the Terps face No. 23 Michigan in Ann Arbor, completing the first of three back-to-back road games faced in conference play.
“Part of it is understanding that’s the nature of the conference,” Aird said. “Everyone’s going to have bad nights, everyone’s going to have evenings they want back, but it’s all about the response. We don’t have a lot of time to wallow in pity.”
