Maryland volleyball knew its Friday night game against No. 4 Kansas would be a challenge, but coach Steve Aird cherished the opportunity to test his young squad against one of the nation’s best programs.
He hoped the Terps could make a statement in Lawrence, Kansas, against a top-five team. Instead, they lost in straight sets to the Jayhawks.
While Maryland picked up Kansas Invite victories over Arkansas and Chicago State to improve to 5-1, Aird lamented the defeat. But he acknowledged that his young players responded well to a noisy road environment, which will set them up well for future challenges.
“We were all disappointed we didn’t go a little further with Kansas,” Aird said. “It’s a great statement about who we are when we have a really young team and they play well, but all of them were disappointed after the match. I think they want to show people that we can play with the best of the country and have success.”
After the Terps defeated Arkansas 3-1 on Friday morning with the help of 18 kills from outside hitter Gia Milana and 10 blocks from middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor, they got off to a positive start against Kansas.
With the squad trailing 23-21 in the first set, MacGregor delivered a string of point-winning plays. She recorded a kill and then assisted on two blocks to give the Terps a chance to win the set.
Kansas then hit a ball down the line that was ruled out, and Maryland began to celebrate an opening set triumph. But the call was reversed after a challenge, and the Jayhawks rallied to take the set.
It was a difficult break for Aird, who lacks experience using the challenge rule that has only been implemented at a few universities.
“We’re at a massive disadvantage because we don’t have it,” Aird said. “I wasn’t very successful with it and Kansas was, and that might have been the difference in the first game.”
Kansas went on to win the next two sets to defeat the Terps. Still, players felt the experience prepared them for future tests.
“They had a full gym there with the band and everything so it was super loud,” MacGregor said. “But honestly it was a fun game to be in. … All of the freshmen that had not been in a big environment like that were fine and no one was completely shocked by it.”
Libero Kelsey Wicinski, who was named to the all-tournament team, echoed that sentiment and said experiencing the road loss to the Jayhawks helped a group with 10 underclassmen come together.
With a 3-0 win over Chicago State on Saturday, the Terps completed their second winning weekend of the season. Though they were disappointed about the Kansas game, the Terps’ performance gave them something to build on.
“It was a good weekend, but it wasn’t a great weekend,” MacGregor said. “There were times that we didn’t do what we needed to do, but overall across the board we did pretty well.”
