Maryland players get up off the floor after giving up a point to Penn State during a 3-0 loss on Saturday, Nov. 8.
In its first meeting with Iowa, the Terrapins volleyball team walked off the Xfinity Pavilion court in disappointment. The Terps had lost in straight sets, and coach Steve Aird said afterward “we’re not a very good team.”
But after going five sets, the Terps would fall again to Iowa, 3-2.
“We were definitely more prepared,” middle blocker Hailey Murray said. “But I don’t think we were ready from the start.”
Despite their insistence that they’d be prepared for the Hawkeyes in their rematch, the Terps stumbled out of the gate in their first set. They gave away their first point on a service error and Iowa ran away with the rest of the set, eventually putting it away, 25-18.
“I’m upset with myself a lot,” Aird said. “I’ve been trying all year to get them to understand what kind of mentality and the way it has to be to do it from the jump. I just wish I was better at it.”
But the Terps offense improved in the second set. They made one attack error compared to the Hawkeyes’ six in the set that allowed them to jump out to a 9-5 lead.
Iowa would push back to tie at 9-9 and eventually take the lead at 11-10. But the Hawkeyes’ attack errors along with the Terps offensive efficiency would derail them. The Terps tied the match at 1-1 with a, 25-18, set win entering the break.
“I was pretty direct with them after game one about their energy and their effort that I wasn’t really pleased with” Aird said. “I told them that in a pretty direct fashion and they did better in game two.”
In the third set, the Terps continued to pour it on. They jumped to a 5-4 lead and then went on a run of eight consecutive points.
The run was spurred by tough serving from middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor who recorded two service aces in that span. She finished the night with three aces and six service errors, both match-highs.
“It’s a lot like Vegas,” Aird said. “I give her the opportunity to do it because every once in a while she can get hot and every once in a while she takes all my money.”
Murray’s three consecutive kills in the team’s torrid streak also helped lift the Terps to a hardy 13-4 lead. The remainder of the frame wouldn’t be close as the Terps finished the set with a 25-15 win.
Iowa wouldn’t concede the win so easily, though. They’d run off six straight points to earn a 6-1 lead over the Terps, five of those points coming off kills from Lauren Brobst. Much like the other frames, it would never be much of a competition from there. Despite the Terps carrying all the momentum, the Hawkeyes won, 25-15, and forced a fifth set.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened in the fourth set,” Murray said. “We just didn’t come prepared to do what we needed to do.”
In the final set, for the first time all match, the two teams played at a similar level. They fought back and forth until Iowa forced a tie at 10-10, prompting Aird to call a timeout.
The teams played another five points and Iowa claimed their first lead of the set at 13-12, forcing Aird to ask for another break from the action. Iowa would reach match point at 14-13, but 15 points wouldn’t be enough to determine the final set as a kill from outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher tied it again at 14.
A kill from Iowa’s Mikaela Gunderson would give the team match point again, but outside hitter Emily Fraik brought the Terps back in with a kill to make it 15-15.
But the Hawkeyes earned their third match point opportunity one rally later and capitalized, ending the Terps’ hopes to snap their eight-match losing skid.
“It was just one of those things where we just didn’t want to lose, not even try to fight to win” Murray said. “That got in our way.”
