Maryland volleyball was tied with North Texas late in the third set, looking for a late push to secure an undefeated weekend in the Maryland Tournament. Eva Rohrbach did just that.
The sophomore delivered a kill down the left sideline, giving the Terps a lead they held onto to claim an excellent 3-0 sweep victory at home against the Mean Green on Sunday.
Following a 1-2 start to its season at the LSU Tournament, Maryland (4-2) responded well with three straight wins in its first weekend home.
The first-ever matchup between the schools was even at five early after Samantha Schnitta crushed a rocket ace. Schnitta, who entered the day with a team-high 55 kills, added 16 more in another big performance.
Like Schnitta, Sydney Bryant — off an excellent match on Saturday — helped lead the Terps to a first set win with three kills. But the set wasn’t easy.
“It feels good to perform well, but also know that I contributed to the team,” Bryant said.
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Back-to-back kills from Coco Gillett put the Mean Green (2-5) up 10-6 in the first set. They eventually grew the advantage to 15-9.
But Maryland responded with a 4-0 run, causing North Texas to call a swift timeout. The Terps continued their strong play after the break, as a Sam Csire kill knotted the score at 18.
While Maryland’s play improved, the Mean Green’s worsened. The Terps took advantage of multiple errors late in the set to take it 25-19.
Maryland’s defense excelled in the first set with 10 more digs to lead to the win. That continued throughout the match — it ended the day with a 17 dig and six block advantage.
“I thought [the defense] did a good job of identifying the key attackers and being in good spots,” coach Adam Hughes said. “I didn’t think there was any hesitation, people were making plays.”
Sydney Dowler and Schnitta combined for a kill to give the Terps a quick lead in the second set.
Dowler, the team’s leader in assists entering the bout, returned to Maryland’s starting lineup after coming off the bench during the previous two matches. She finished with a career-high 31 assists to pace all players.
“One of the things that makes Syd elite is her ability to track down passes that are kind of all over the place,” Hughes said. “She creates opportunities and when we’re not passing well, that kind of puts her in that role … thought that she got off to a little bit of a slow start today but recovered incredibly well.”
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Back-to-back Schnitta aces put the Terps up 7-2 in the second set and they cruised from that point on. Their relentlessness continued, taking a 15-6 lead to force a North Texas timeout.
Maryland had a hitting percentage of .370 in the second set as it dominantly took it 25-12, winning nine of the last eleven points. The Terps’ strong hitting was evident throughout the match — they finished with a .391 hitting percentage in the win.
The Mean Green responded in the third set like they did in the opening one, going up 3-0 after a kill from Aryn Johnson. But yet again, Maryland quickly responded.
A Rohrbach spike down the middle of the court evened the set at four. A service error from Rohrbach once again tied the score at eight.
Back-to-back Johnson kills gave the Mean Green a 13-10 lead as they attempted to extend the match. Maryland followed with a run of its own to even the set at 20, but an attacking error from Schnitta put North Texas up by one and in position to take their first set of the match.
Schnitta responded, recording a kill on the very next point. Rohrbach’s following kill pushed the Terps ahead to seal a dominant weekend.
