The Maryland volleyball team is on a 10-game skid and has endured several injuries to key players. But entering its match with No. 16 Michigan, coach Steve Aird continued to encourage the Terps to fight for the program in front of an animated crowd at Xfinity Center Pavilion.
At one point during his pregame speech, outside hitter Gia Milana said Aird became emotional. In turn, some players in the locker room started “bawling.”
“It was a pretty deep pregame talk,” setter Taylor Smith said. “It was very close and personal.”
The discussion inspired Maryland to jump out to a two-set lead. Though the Wolverines came back to win in five sets, the Terps’ ability to compete with a ranked opponent while short-handed gave them confidence for Saturday’s matchup with Rutgers.
“[Aird] is a brilliant man,” Milana said. “Hearing the stuff he says to us has a huge impact on our lives … and seeing him give so much to us is kind of overwhelming.”
Aird said his message was meant to let the team know “how much [the staff] cares and how important it is that everyone gives it their all.”
That support resonated with the players, who needed a boost after losing outside hitter Liz Twilley to an upper body injury. In addition, Milana and opposite hitter Angel Gaskin were not 100 percent against Michigan.
Still, Aird’s words motivated the Terps to start the match sharper than the Wolverines. After winning set one, 25-21, they used a 9-1 run to take set two by the same tally.
“We came out wanting to play for everyone who supports us,” Milana said. “That’s why we came out pretty strong.”
Michigan responded to Maryland’s positive start by winning the next two frames, though.
Late in the third set, Milana, who wore a brace over her hurt knee, exited the game and walked to an exercise bike at the end of the bench. Aird said removing her was a tactical move to preserve her energy for later in the match.
She returned to notch seven kills in the fourth and fifth sets and tallied a career-high 22 kills in total. But the Terps (8-13, 0-9 Big Ten) lost the final frame, 18-16, after Gaskin’s attacking error and Smith’s misplaced set.
The miscue sealed the Terps’ defeat, but Aird said Smith “did a lot of good things” earlier in the match and praised her for fighting through adversity as a freshman setter.
“I’m asking a lot of the kid,” Aird said. “Volleyball IQ comes with experience, and the only way to get experience is to be in these matches. You just hope that going forward she learns and she adapts.”
After the loss, Aird said he was proud of the Terps’ fight. He told them to focus on their upcoming matchup with Rutgers rather than dwell on a disappointing result.
But as he turned his attention to the Scarlet Knights (4-18, 0-9), players gained a lasting impression of their coach.
“We know he genuinely loves us,” Milana said. “Everything he says I’m just like, ‘Wow, you’re so right.’ It just hits you.”
