The Maryland volleyball team has struggled to find success away from home this season. While the squad holds a 3-4 record at Xfinity Pavilion, it entered its matchup at Rutgers on Sunday night with a 1-7 road mark.
Coach Steve Aird hoped to improve in that area as the year progressed, but he said starting inexperienced underclassmen makes it difficult to achieve consistency away from College Park.
When the Terps swept the Scarlet Knights, though, the players felt more comfortable playing in a hostile environment than they had earlier in the year.
“It’s never easy going into someone else’s building and competing against the home team,” outside hitter Gia Milana said. “It might not show all the time, but it’s definitely more difficult. I do think that we’re adjusting to that well.”
So far, Maryland has spent the majority of its time far from home. In non-conference play, the Terps traveled to Washington, D.C., Lawrence, Kansas, and Los Angeles as part of a 12-match stretch on the road. Aird’s squad has also played six of their 10 Big Ten games on the road.
Opposite hitter Angel Gaskin said Maryland has grown accustomed to the frequent trips. Plus, she believes these visits have helped younger players bond with veterans, making a rigorous travel schedule easier to manage.
When the Terps went to Los Angeles in mid-September for the Pac-12 Challenge, they took a day off to walk along the beach, ride on a Ferris wheel and eat dinner at a waterfront restaurant. Those experiences helped develop a close-knit unit that topped the Scarlet Knights on Sunday.
“Now being half way through the Big Ten and being very heavy away and not home much, we’ve kind of gotten into a routine,” Gaskin said. “We’re more comfortable with each other and have confidence within each other to make that on-the-road feeling a little less daunting.”
Gaskin has dealt with an upper body injury this past week, but she recorded 10 kills and led the Terps with a .389 hitting percentage against the Scarlet Knights.
She said she is feeling “a lot better” compared to the pain she experienced in a match against No. 16 Michigan on Oct. 19 but acknowledged the whole team is “a bit banged up and playing through some things.”
Those injuries didn’t stop the Terps from earning their first Big Ten victory this season and first road triumph since Sept. 10. They beat the Scarlet Knights by five points in the first set, six in the second set and two in third set.
After Milanasc sealed the win with a third-set kill from the back row, she pumped her two fists before hugging her teammates in the post-match huddle.
Now, Milana said, the Terps can relax a little as they conclude the season with six home games in their final 10 contests. She hopes the squad can use the momentum from the Rutgers victory to stage a couple of upsets in the final month.
“We can breathe a little,” Milana said. “We’ve got our [Big Ten] win down. Now we’re looking at who else we can pick off.”
