When the Terrapin volleyball team began its season in September against three of the top 15 teams in the country, it was preparing for the NCAA tournament.
Exactly three months later, the Terps found themselves cruising to a 3-0 win over Towson in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The following night, No. 2-seeded Penn State knocked them out. For the second consecutive year, the Terps fell one game short of the regional round at the NCAA tournament.
“I think it’s always important to play competition that will challenge you,” said Terp coach Janice Kruger. “Our early nonconference schedule did just that.”
The Terps welcomed the challenge of playing Penn State and lost a three-game match about as close as a team possibly could (34-32, 30-27, 31-29). However, the team would have never gotten that opportunity had they not completed an incredible run in the ACC tournament.
The Terps finished 18-15, 7-9 ACC, but that will hardly be the lasting memory of the 2004 slate.
“It’s hard to end on a loss, but you’re going to end on a loss unless you win the national championship,” senior setter Aimee Huddleston said. “Coming from where we were – during conference season we were up and down every weekend – to fight back in the conference tournament and earn an automatic bid; that really gave us some momentum coming into the NCAA tournament. It was fun in the end. It was a good way to finish; we lost to a good team.”
Entering the tournament as the No. 7-seed and coming off two bad losses at home, the Terps had hit a low point in their season. Four matches and three upsets later, the team celebrated its second consecutive ACC championship.
During the ACC tournament, the Terps rewrote the record books. Senior outside hitter Sarah Treadwell had 70 kills, tying an ACC tournament record – one of four records set by Terps during the tournament. Huddleston had 228 assists in four matches during the tournament, while freshman libero Beth Gillming established a new tournament record with 87 digs. Junior middle blocker Stephanie Smith had 30 blocks in four matches.
The biggest key for the Terps this season was their blocking. The team led the ACC in blocking and ended the year ranked 13th nationally in blocking. Smith and junior middle blocker Rachel Wagener were ranked third and fourth in the ACC, respectively. Smith led the team with 184 total blocks, 26 of which were solo. Wagener was right behind her with 171 total blocks, 19 solo.
Treadwell and senior outside hitter Maria DiLivio both established themselves in the program’s record books. Treadwell recorded her 1,000th career dig during the season and ranks fourth on the Terps’ all-time list for digs. DiLivio became the second player ever to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills. She notched her 1,000th career kill late in the regular season, and her 1,000th career dig came against Penn State in the NCAA tournament.
The Terps received a huge boost this year from their freshmen. Gillming began the season as an outside hitter, but converted to the libero position midway through. She adjusted quickly and became an important piece of the championship puzzle, finishing the season second on the team with 434 digs.
Freshman outside hitter Jade Brown found herself in the rotation midway through the season. She became a force at the position. She ended averaging 2.94 kills per game, second to Treadwell.
Treadwell led the team with 432 kills, 3.43 kills per game and 448 digs. She earned the Most Valuable Player award at the ACC tournament after finishing with double-doubles in all four games.
Treadwell is one of five seniors who played their final match as Terps this season. The team will lose DiLivio, Huddleston, outside hitter Jennifer Dewalt and defensive specialist Kathy Shahrokh to graduation.
