Maryland volleyball entered Saturday without a loss in September. UCF entered undefeated against unranked teams. One of those trends needed to end.

The Knights’ stretch ceased. The Terps secured a 3-2 set win at the UCF Tournament, winning their eighth straight match.

Outside hitter Emily Wilson set the tone early for UCF (7-2), drilling a shot across the court that no Terp could touch. Middle blocker Anastasia Russ slipped and went down with an ankle injury for Maryland (9-2). She initially stayed in but quickly went to the bench after a few points and did not return.

Pin hitter Samantha Schnitta showed touch with a dink to the middle of the court that fell untouched to give the Terps a one-point edge early. The graduate student drilled another kill to end a streak of five-straight points for the Knights.

But an ace from graduate student Chloe Scheer gave the Knights their largest lead of the set at seven — prompting a Maryland timeout. The Terps’ offense struggled in the first set, hitting just .171 compared to UCF’s .250.

While setter Sydney Dowler gave Maryland an emphatic block to save set point, the Knights ultimately secured the win 25-20 on a Britt Carlson spike.

[Maryland volleyball extends win streak to 6 with 3-1 win over Delaware State]

Zoe Huang emphatically shouted as she prepared to set outside hitter Sydney Bryant for a spike. Bryant drilled the ball across the court to give the Terps their first point of the second set.

Carlson clobbered another kill of her own, off an Abby Schomers pass, that pushed UCF narrowly ahead later in the set. Schomers entered Saturday fifth in the Big 12 in assists per set — she added a match-high 45 on Saturday.

But Maryland responded.

The Terps won three straight points, a Sam Csire ace the final one that caused a Knights timeout. Csire, Schnitta and Dowler notched consecutive kills to give Maryland a set point. It took advantage, winning the set 25-15 on a UCF error.

An improved Terps offense resulted in the victory, hitting .500 in after a subpar opening set performance.

UCF took the opening five points of the third set. Wilson’s eighth kill of the match extended the Knights’ lead to 7-1 — leading to a Maryland timeout. Then, they grew their advantage to eight.

Maryland saved six set points as it desperately sought a comeback. But out of a UCF timeout, middle blocker Alexia Kuehl finally sealed the set 25-18 with a spike across the court that went untouched.

“I think it was the statement sent there that we’re not going to walk away,” coach Adam Coach Adam Hughes said. “It was a big time moment for us.”

[Maryland volleyball relies on Samantha Schnitta’s veteran presence]

The Terps forced a quick Knights timeout after gaining a 6-4 lead in the fourth set. Kuehl drilled one wide down the right sideline to extend the advantage to five. A few points later, Csire placed a shot perfectly in between three UCF defenders off a Huang pass.

Freshman Katherine Scherer helped halt a brief Knights run. The pin hitter recorded two kills in the span of three points — bringing the lead back to three. She finished with a career-high six kills.

“She took some big hacks, gave the team some more confidence,” Hughes said.

An Avah Armour error sealed the set 25-18 to force a decider.

Once the fifth set reached four-all, Maryland went on a run. Dowler and Rohrbach put the Terps up four on a joint block that went deep on the Knights side and fell unreturned.

“Eva [Rohrbach] did a phenomenal job, not just getting pieces but offensively,” Hughes said. “That was a great performance, we wanted to get her the ball a little bit more.”

Maryland’s advantage trimmed to one, but Schnitta destroyed a ball down the right side that UCF barely touched before it went well out of play to extend the Terps’ advantage to 13-11.

With Maryland up 14-12, Wilson clobbered one across the court that went well wide. The Terps shouted in celebration as they won a near two-and-a-half hour match.