The Maryland volleyball team entered its match up with No. 2 Nebraska on Sunday with extensive experience against top-caliber opponents. The squad had already faced four top-5 teams but lost in straight sets in each of those contests.
However, the Cornhuskers were the first top-5 team this season to play at Xfinity Pavilion, where the players said they are more comfortable in tough games.
Still, the Terps (8-12, 0-8 Big Ten) struggled to compete with Nebraska (16-1, 7-1) despite a raucous home crowd. They lost, 3-0, marking their ninth consecutive defeat.
“[Nebraska is] a pretty well-rounded team that makes very few errors when it plays,” opposite hitter Angel Gaskin said. “It’s all about consistency with them.”
In the loss, middle blocker Hailey Murray led with nine kills to two attacking errors. Outside hitter Gia Milana added 11 kills and nine digs.
Meanwhile, outside hitter Liz Twilley, who has started the past five matches, faltered, recording a negative hitting percentage for the second time this weekend.
After the contest, though, coach Steve Aird gave all his players encouragement.
“I told them in the locker room after the match that it’s not a matter of if Maryland becomes relevant, but when,” Aird said. “Some of our players need improving, but we play in the toughest conference in the country.”
Throughout the match, poor serving and attacking mistakes plagued Maryland. The Cornhuskers’ sideout percentage, which refers to how often a point is won on an opponent serve, was 75 percent compared to the Terps’ 47 percent.
In addition, Aird’s squad committed 15 more attacking errors than the Cornhuskers did.
“What you saw today was a defending national championship team play at a really high level,” Aird said. “[We] struggled at times … but that’s an exceptional team and we’ll learn the lessons from it.”
Still, the Terps got off to a promising start in the first set.
When a kill from middle blocker Hailey Murray cut the Nebraska’s advantage to 13-12, Aird stood from the bench, clapped his hands and shouted “Good job” three times to encourage his squad.
Then, the Cornhuskers went on a 12-2 run with the help of three attacking errors and a ball handling error from the Terps to close the frame.
Nebraska never trailed in set two, as Maryland continued to make unforced errors. In the frame, which the Cornhuskers won, 25-14, the Terps made five attacking errors and two receiving errors. The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, made one attacking error and did not commit a receiving mistake.
While the Terps showed improvement in the third set, they couldn’t avoid a straight set defeat, dropping the frame, 25-17.
“At times there were glimpses of us being able play in the match,” Aird said. “But at other times those three or four point runs [by Nebraska] just got away from us, and that’s how games end.”
After a stretch of three matches against ranked opponents with at least one set win, the squad has now suffered consecutive sweeps. Even so, the players are pushing to make improvements.
“We’ve just got to keep working hard,” Gaskin said. “If we keep hitting the rock, it’s going to break eventually … It’s all about sticking with it and not getting too frustrated.”
