When the Maryland volleyball team opened the Big Ten competition on Sept. 23 at then-No. 2 Minnesota, the underclassmen were nervous about facing such a talented group on the road.
Even freshman outside hitter Gia Milana, a former high school All-American and the 2015 Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year, said she was shaking before the contest. As a result, she recorded just five kills and made nine attacking errors. The squad lost in straight sets and failed to score more than 14 points in any frame.
The Terps didn’t feel the same anxiety in a rematch with the Golden Gophers on Sunday afternoon, but while they improved on offense, their inconsistency led to another 3-0 defeat.
“That earlier game was my first Big Ten match,” Milana said. “Now that I’ve played against a bunch of really experienced teams. … I have a little bit more under my belt, and that gave me confidence going into this game.”
In her second appearance against Minnesota, Milana notched 17 kills with a .175 hitting percentage. Coach Steve Aird was impressed she found success even though “everyone knew” she was going to get the ball. If she had been on the other side of the net with a more balanced attack, he suggested, “she might have hit .800.”
Overall, the Terps improved their hitting percentage between meetings from .028 to .119, displaying increased efficiency with their offensive opportunities.
Still, Aird said they needed to be more consistent to topple a team like Minnesota. After all, the Golden Gophers were good enough to cruise “on autopilot,” he said, while Maryland struggled to execute its game plan.
“They’re an elite blocking team, so there’s not a lot of open court,” Aird said. “When you do hit it past the block, they’re elite at defending. Your execution level has to [be] more fine. When you play really good teams, they don’t let you just be OK.”
Maryland hoped to counter the Golden Gophers’ talent by serving well, extending rallies and hitting the ball toward the back row.
But outside hitter Liz Twilley, who finished second on the team with eight kills, said the Terps failed to execute that game plan during the first two sets. They lost those frames, 25-16 and 25-19.
During those frames, the squad completed two aces but committed five service errors. It also struggled to sustain runs, scoring three consecutive points just once. Before the third set, Milana said players committed to increased intensity and vowed to “play the volleyball we know how to play.”
That helped Maryland become more competitive in the final frame. The Terps lost, 25-22, but went on a late 4-0 run to pull within a point of Minnesota before the Golden Gophers closed out the match.
“At the beginning we kind of strayed away from the scouting report that we had,” Twilley said. “We weren’t as focused on the couple of key points [Aird] had given us to play with … but we picked it up over the course of the match.”
Despite the in-game progression, Milana didn’t think the Terps demonstrated the poise she hopes to attain in the final few weeks of the season. Moving forward, she said it’s important for the team to show energy in every set.
“Maturity would be starting out strong,” Milana said. “We know that we have that talent in us. That’s what [Aird] is telling us right now. He knows we can play at a certain level, which we did at the end of the third set, so we really need to work on starting like that and giving teams more of a problem in the beginning.”
