Last season, the Maryland volleyball team entered a home tilt Nov. 6 against then-No. 12 Ohio State after losing, 3-1, to then-No. 1 Penn State the night before. The squad’s conference record at that point was just 2-11.
As the Terps took on the Buckeyes at Xfinity Pavilion, the Maryland men’s basketball team played an exhibition against Southern New Hampshire at Xfinity Center’s main gym. Attendance was sparse for the start of the volleyball match.
But by the time the team finished a sweep of the Buckeyes, coach Steve Aird said, “you couldn’t find a seat” in the Pavilion.
The Terps (9-13, 1-9 Big Ten), who welcome No. 19 Ohio State to College Park on Wednesday night for the first time since last year’s upset, hope to pull off another signature victory.
“[That win] felt great,” middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor said. “We weren’t having a lot of wins in the Big Ten, and we had been close in some matches like we’ve been this year. Finally being able to pick someone off was a good feeling.”
Middle blocker Hailey Murray said Maryland approached that matchup with a familiar mindset. As usual, the squad focused on its own performance, rather than the opposition.
So even as the Terps closed in on a straight-set upset of the Buckeyes, Murray didn’t consider the imminent accomplishment. She said she was too focused on the individual points to pay attention to the overall score.
When she looked up at the scoreboard after the match, though, the feat registered.
“Man, we just beat Ohio State,” Murray said.
MacGregor notched eight kills and posted a team-high .583 hitting percentage in the victory. She remembers it being “a really fun game” because of the challenge the Buckeyes presented.
Now, the senior is one month away from the end of her college career. On Wednesday, she hopes to earn another memorable win over Ohio State (14-8, 4-6) to jumpstart a positive conclusion to her final season.
The Terps started Big Ten play with a 1-9 mark last year finishing 4-6 down the stretch. After beginning conference play with the same tally this season, they sense a similar turnaround will come.
On Saturday, the squad beat Rutgers, 3-0, for its first win since Sept. 16. Murray said the result, which came after a 3-2 loss to then-No. 16 Michigan, proved “this team is not cursed.”
“The back-half of the schedule is a little bit more Maryland friendly,” Murray said. “We’re going to pick off some more teams as the season progresses. We’ve gotten stronger as a team, and this is a group that’s definitely more comfortable at home.”
However, even a strong finish from the Terps would be bittersweet for MacGregor, who is sad her college career is ending. She has played sports her whole life, so moving on “will be an adjustment.”
Still, she cherishes her experiences with the program. She said the past four years have “taught me a lot of life lessons about how to deal with things that come at you” such as the coaching change after her first season.
Plus, MacGregor believes the Terps, who have 10 underclassmen, are prepared to find success in the near future.
“I’m a little jealous that I’m not going to be a part of it,” MacGregor said. “But it’s exciting to know there is such a bright future for the program, and it’ll be exciting to see where it goes.”
