After an 18-14 season, it looked like the Maryland volleyball team had a great shot to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005.

The Terps had a good RPI, a few really good wins, and have competed all season in arguably the best conference in women’s college volleyball.

However, the NCAA selection committee decided to leave Steve Aird’s team out of the tournament, naming the Terps the “first team out” of the 64-team field. High Point and the College of Charleston were given the final two spots.

I’m here to tell you why the committee got it wrong.

Maryland — 18-14 (7-13 Big Ten)

RPI: No. 47

Best Win: RPI No. 11 USC

Worst Loss: RPI No. 42 Ohio State (twice)

Vs. RPI Top 50: 3-14

High Point — 24-7 (16-0 Big South)

RPI: No. 45

Best Win: RPI No. 61 Radford (twice)

Worst Loss: RPI No. 131 UNC-Greensboro

Vs. RPI Top 50: 0-4

College of Charleston — 27-5 (15-1 CAA)

RPI: No. 50

Best Win: RPI No. 14 Baylor

Worst Loss: RPI No. 128 Northeastern

Vs. RPI Top 50: 1-2

To recap: the Terps have the best win of the three, have the most wins against the best teams, and won every game they were supposed to win. You can’t say that about High Point, which didn’t beat any top-50 teams, or College of Charleston, which lost to lowly Northeastern.

High Point got in over Maryland. Well, that’s a low point for the NCAA. But at least Coach Aird found some beauty in this difficult moment.