Maryland volleyball and Rutgers both entered Saturday’s matchup winless in Big Ten play. Something had to give.
It did. The Terps finally got on track, winning in straight sets at Xfinity Center. Maryland dominated serving-wise, hitting seven more aces and six fewer service errors than Rutgers.
Samantha Schnitta, the Big Ten leader in aces, rocketed a serve on the third point of the match that the Scarlet Knights could only uncontrollably return out of play. That ace gave Maryland (10-5, 1-3 Big Ten) the lead and set the tone early.
“We’re always trying to find this balance. If some people are aggressive, some people are more like spot location changing speeds,” Coach Adam Hughes said. “We kept moving targets too so that they didn’t know where the ball was going to go.”
Sophomore Sydney Bryant skied high and drilled a spike that ricocheted off two Scarlet Knights and went out of play, extending the Maryland lead to 13-7. A few points later, Schnitta flexed her defense with a diving dig to extend a rally before hitting one wide to cut the Terps’ lead to two.
Maryland took the opening set 25-22 on an Alissa Kinkela service error. Serving woes hampered Rutgers consistently — it had five service errors and zero aces in the set, a stark contrast to the Terps’ two and four, respectively.
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Despite winning it, the Terps were out-killed, 13-10, in the first set. Maryland won the first three points of the second, the first of which came on a Schnitta kill.
But Rutgers won the next three points, quieting a palpable crowd in College Park. The swings kept on coming as each team won another three straight to tie the score at six.
Sydney Dowler’s second ace of the match, on the heels of yet another Scarlet Knights service error, gave Maryland a 9-8 edge. Bryant rocketed a spike down the left sideline a few points later that a Scarlet Knight barely touched before it flew beyond the baseline — extending the Terps lead and prompting a Scarlet Knights timeout.
“I think just knowing that my team was behind me, it really helps a lot when my teammates are just like ‘swing, we got you, we’re covering you, we’re there,’” Bryant said. “My teammates really helped give me the confidence to go swing away.”
But Rutgers responded.
It went on a quick 4-0 run that included two Krista Dooley kills, prompting a Maryland timeout as the Scarlet Knights cut their deficit to two. Schnitta rocketed a serve that hit the floor between two Rutgers players to halt the momentum.
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Maryland took the set 25-20 on outside hitter Sam Csire’s sixth kill of the match. After two sets, the Terps had fewer kills, digs and blocks than the Scarlet Knights. But Schnitta led a dynamic serving effort. She had three more aces than the entire Rutgers team through two sets.
A Csire kill gave the Terps an early one-point edge in the third set. Schnitta demolished a spike across the court that Rutgers two points later, extending the lead to 7-5.
The set stayed competitive. The Terps led throughout, but the Scarlet Knights stayed tenacious. Bryant eventually gave the Terps a little cushion, crushing her team-leading 12th kill of the match to extend the lead to 21-15.
Maryland took the third set 25-19 on a block by Bryant and Rohrbach, sending the crowd into a frenzy as it secured its first conference victory of the season.
“If you can dictate the terms and serve, it really does have a huge mental impact on the match,” Hughes said. “That was the biggest thing, we just wanted to make sure that no one could get comfortable.”
