Coach Steve Aird called Maryland volleyball’s nonconference schedule one of the toughest in the country during a press conference Tuesday. The Terps face two top-five teams before beginning Big Ten competition Sept. 23.
This weekend, Maryland will travel to Lawrence, Kansas, to play No. 4 Kansas, Arkansas and Chicago State in the Kansas Invitational. How the Terps perform against the Jayhawks, who made the Final Four last season, will help measure their ability and prepare them for future trials in conference play.
“It’s the kind of match I want to be in,” Aird said. “It’s on national TV. It’s sold out. It’s in a hostile environment.”
Aird said the challenging slate of early-season games is designed to test the inexperienced players in raucous road environments. After starting the year with three home wins, the Terps will play 12 straight away matches.
“The young kids have to get an idea of what it’s like to not be able to hear in a timeout,” Aird said.
The third-year coach emphasized that he won’t coddle a squad with 10 underclassmen. The team’s challenging schedule is just one part of that approach.
Aird is willing to criticize any player if he senses it will spark improvement, he said. Even freshman outside hitter Gia Milana, the highest recruit in program history, has not received a free pass.
In fact, the coach admitted that he’s been especially hard on Milana because he believes she can develop into an Olympic-caliber player. For Milana to reach that level, he knows he must push her to get better.
“I just wasn’t going to pat [Milana] on the back and tell her she’s arrived,” Aird said. “She has boyfriends and parents to tell her that she’s great. I’ll be the one to remind her about the realities of life.”
Still, he hopes Milana and the other underclassmen, such as opposite hitter Angel Gaskin and outside hitter Liz Twilley, can step up this weekend against Kansas. In an atmosphere that may pose a major obstacle to Maryland’s young players, the coach said he’s willing to “throw them in the fire and say ‘let’s battle.'”
That way, the Terps would learn how to compete with the nation’s best squads.
“We’ve got a young team … and we’re going to be young for the next few years,” Aird said. “So I want them to go through some really tough stuff, especially going on the road and playing some great teams.”
They’re not sure how things will turn out Friday night, but the Terps are looking forward to facing the Jayhawks in their first major test of the season.
“We’re pretty excited to get on the road and see what we’ve got,” Aird said.
