Maryland volleyball faced a narrow 10-8 deficit in the fourth set as it looked to force a decider against No. 4 Penn State. Then, the Terps gave up a 7-0 run to fall behind late in the set. They never recovered.
That was a theme for Maryland on Sunday. Its defense collapsed in the middle of sets against a top offense.
The Terps were within four after 20 points in all three of the sets they lost, but the Nittany Lions still won each of those by at least 10 points. The flurry of huge runs in the middle of sets proved the disparity between the teams.
Penn State consistently found ways to give its offense extra opportunities. Hitters took advantage with laser-quick shots to stifle the Terps’ defense, which looked worse and worse as sets progressed. The level of tenacity and aggressiveness was a step up from Maryland’s three previous opponents.
“We were around the ball a lot, and one of the things that they do a really good job of is they’re very scrappy,” coach Adam Hughes said. “If you’re disciplined and you have good hand work, you can block a bunch of balls … if you’re off by a little bit, it’s hard because they’re taking really big swings.”
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Penn State outside hitters Camryn Hannah and Jess Mruzik, both graduate students, combined for 32 kills. With Mruzik struggling in the opening set, Hannah took over with four kills in the last 10 points to outscore Maryland. The Terps’ front row didn’t record a block in that span while their back row looked fatigued from constantly running all over the court.
Maryland’s front row had just seven total blocks and only one across the last two sets. Sophomore middle blocker Eva Rohrbach, who had been averaging 5.5 blocks per game over the previous four matches, recorded just one. The Terps’ blockers failed to put any pressure on the Nittany Lions’ hitters during game-changing runs.
“Offensively, I just thought they were balanced,” Hughes said. “They were scoring from a variety of ways, and they were winning a lot of long transition rallies.”
Maryland’s offense did little to alleviate pressure from its defense as sets got out of hand.
Graduate student pin hitter Samantha Schnitta had Maryland’s best performance with 12 kills, but she had multiple errors late in the fourth to halt any chance for a comeback. The Terps were down two midway through that set and recorded only three kills the rest of the way. The hitters looked hesitant to go for winners as pressure rose during massive runs.
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The Terps’ setters looked out of sorts when the Nittany Lions went on large runs. Their passes were sloppy, which led to Maryland’s hitters lobbing shots over the net instead of spiking it.
Meanwhile, freshman setter Izzy Starck looked at ease for Penn State with 23 more assists than Maryland’s entire team, including multiple to end sets.
“I thought offensively, [it] just never felt like we were on the same page. Just missing some sets, and we were trying to manage some balls versus taking big swings,” Hughes said. “Sometimes it’s really hard too if it doesn’t start off that way … especially when someone as good as Penn State is putting pressure on you.”
Maryland was able to win a set against the Nittany Lions for the second time this season. But its struggles to stop game-altering runs proved just how far apart the squads still are.
