With Maryland a point away from victory in the fifth set — and previously undefeated American trailing the set by one — Sydney Bryant skied high and drilled a spike down the middle of the court.

The Eagles couldn’t stop it from touching down, as Bryant’s kill iced the 3-2 win for Maryland at American on Saturday. The victory put the Terps (3-2) above .500 for the first time since Maryland’s season-opener. The Terps can go undefeated in the Maryland tournament with a win over North Texas Sunday.

The fifth set started out as competitive as many of the others, with both teams knotted at five early on. A big block by Anastasia Russ put the Terps up 12-11 in the highly-contested ending and Bryant recorded her 13th kill of the match to end it right after a Maryland timeout.

Maryland got off to a quick start, going up 4-2 on back-to-back Sam Csire service aces. Csire finished with a career-high seven aces in the match.

“I think the past few games I’ve kind of been a little bit stiff when I go to serve,” Csire said. “Today I kind of told myself to be free and let yourself just roll.”

But American (7-1) responded with multiple runs of its own in a back-and-forth opening set. Maryland was down 14-12 midway through, with American in possession of all the momentum.

[Maryland volleyball dominates Alabama A&M in 3-0 sweep]

Then Samantha Schnitta rattled off three kills in a row to give the Terps a one-point edge. The graduate student followed up a big performance Friday with a career-high 21 kills against American.

“Samantha Schnitta did a good job,” coach Adam Hughes said. “She cracked open a couple runs there. She got some aces in the fifth [set] as well, which she got high risk, high reward .”

But Schnitta’s eight first-set kills weren’t enough. The Terps out-killed the Eagles 17-9 in the opening set but lost 27-25.

Adelina Berisha carried the American offense in the first set, recording five of her 14 kills in the first to pace the Eagles.

Zoe Huang recorded 28 assists in the victory after notching 18 in her first start of the year on Friday. Fifth-year Sydney Dowler added 17 assists in her new role off the bench.

Maryland responded in the second set, taking an early 4-2 lead again. The Terps kept their pressure on in the second set, eventually taking a 20-13 lead on back-to-back Schnitta service aces.

Maryland kept up its high level of play and won the second set 25-14, clinched by a huge block from Dowler. The Terps had seven service aces in the set while American failed to record any.

[A pair of Maryland volleyball setters have been leaders early in the season]

After the teams were tied at five in the third set, both squads posted some big runs. The Terps scored four straight before an 8-0 run by the Eagles put American up, 13-9.

The Terps, down 23-18, went on an epic comeback to win the third set. Multiple kills by Schnitta put them within three, but there was still work to be done. Maryland just kept rallying off points until Sydney Bryant ended it with back-to-back kills as Maryland took the set, 25-23.

“I actually took a challenge, and I didn’t need a challenge at all, I just wanted to slow it down” Hughes said. “I was out of timeouts and in that moment I probably dropped an F word or two there and just said, ‘Hey, we’re winning this.”’

Maryland kept its momentum in the fourth set, opening with a 9-5 lead after a kill by Eva Rohrbach. The undefeated Eagles responded and after an ace by middle blocker Lilou Stegeman, things were even at nine.

But after Maryland led 16-13, American ended the set on a 12-4 run, set up the final set and an epic finish.