About two years ago, Maryland softball coach Julie Wright asked infielder Skylynne Ellazar what she wanted to accomplish before graduating. Ellazar said she wanted to play in her home state of Hawaii.

This weekend, in her senior season, the Terps captain will get her wish.

“My whole family’s going to be there,” Ellazar said. “Playing in front of family and friends one more time is going to be bittersweet.”

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Maryland will take part in a five-game tournament in Honolulu over the weekend, allowing Ellazar to play in her home state for the first time in four years and, Wright hopes, offering the rest of the team a chance to decompress.

“We’re going to try to relax a little because I think this team needs that,” Wright said. “Bigger than anything, though, is we’re going to have some great games out there against some great competition.”

Ellazar, a Kahului native, has been a leader for the Terps, guiding the young team through the growing pains they’ve experienced this season.

“If I’m calm, I know they’re calm,” Ellazar said. “Telling them that mistakes are going to happen and that they’ve got to just shake it off and keep playing.”

In high school, Ellazar played her summer ball in California, meaning her opportunities to play in front of her Hawaiian family and friends have been limited for years.

While she’ll cherish the opportunity and her teammates will enjoy their tropical trip, Maryland has its work cut out for it on the field, where it’ll play two games against No. 4 Tennessee, its first ranked opponent in three weeks. The Volunteers are 24-1 and come into the tournament on a 16-game win streak.

After registering three wins over ranked teams last season, the Terps have gone 0-5 against ranked teams this season, with the most competitive of those games being a 5-1 defeat to No. 3 UCLA. Three of those losses came by the run rule.

The Terps went 4-6 in the two tournaments without a ranked opponent. They turned in their only winning weekend in Louisville, but regressed last weekend, going 1-4 in their home tournament.

Still, that prior success fuels Maryland’s belief that, potentially with some hometown magic from Ellazar, it can earn some upsets in Honolulu.

“I know a lot of the girls are excited to get out there,” Ellazar said. “Getting to play against Tennessee twice is going to be awesome.”