The Maryland volleyball team has struggled to close out tight sets throughout the season. As a result, it suffered a couple of tough defeats earlier in Big Ten play.
At home against then-No. 24 Illinois and then-No. 16 Michigan, the squad lost despite holding match points.
So when the Terps finished the first frame against No. 19 Ohio State on Wednesday night with an 8-4 run, libero Kelsey Wicinski leapt in celebration. The set victory came with standout outside hitter Gia Milana hitting negative, as outside hitter Liz Twilley and middle blocker Hailey Murray contributed four and three kills, respectively.
While Milana struggled throughout the contest, others emerged to propel the team to a 3-2 victory, marking the second consecutive year Maryland has upset the Buckeyes.
“Those Illinois and Michigan matches were heartbreakers,” Twilley said. “We knew we had what it took [to complete an upset], so we just came out and tried not to think about the results of those matches.”
Twilley, who had struggled last weekend in a win over Rutgers, led the team with 13 kills and notched six blocks in the match. She said it was “a great feeling” to have a rebound performance after she “wasn’t happy with how I’d been playing the past couple of weeks.”
In addition, four other Terps had at least nine kills. That helped relieve Milana, who committed a season-high 14 attacking errors.
“There have been nights when Gia has gone off and been amazing,” setter Taylor Smith said. “The rest of the team was like, ‘You know what? You’ve saved our butts before so we’re going to save you now. We’ve got you.'”
With Maryland ahead, 23-21, in the first set, it executed a slide play to set up Murray for an on-the-run kill. Then Ohio State outside hitter Luisa Schirmer committed an attacking error to give the Terps a set win.
The Buckeyes committed 10 attacking in errors in the frame, while the Terps made just four.
Maryland continued its strong play to begin the second set. After falling behind, 6-3, the team completed a 12-3 run to take control before eight attacking errors helped Ohio State take the frame, 25-22.
Coach Steve Aird’s squad received a boost from freshman outside hitter Megan McTigue in the third set. She came off the bench to notch a kill and make two powerful serves — one was an ace and the other led to a kill for middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor.
After the Buckeyes went up, 24-22, in the frame, the Terps battled back to earn set point at 28-27. But an error from Milana at the net enabled the Buckeyes to finish on a 3-0 stretch and take a 2-1 set advantage.
In a must-win fourth set, Maryland used a 10-4 start to force a decisive fifth frame. Aird was proud of the response and said it demonstrated the character of his young players.
“I was really proud of their battle,” Aird said. “A team that isn’t mentally tough rolls over in the fourth set. They came out and there was no quit in them.”
Unlike the Terps’ five-set losses to the Fighting Illini and Wolverines, they completed the victory with a strong end-of-match performance.
When Smith made a block to seal the win, the squad mobbed her on the court and injured middle blocker Katie Myers pointed at her to recognize the clutch play.
“That was pretty awesome,” Smith said. “It was a cool feeling, especially because blocking has been something I’ve been working on.”
