Maryland volleyball entered Friday’s bout against Rutgers first in the conference in aces. Its elite serving — which included a 6-1 ace disparity in the first and third sets — helped it overcome a subpar offensive performance and dominate the Scarlet Knights for the second time this season.

The Terps swept the Scarlet Knights at the College Avenue Gym. It marked their second road win in Big Ten play and snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Terps (14-16, 5-14 Big Ten) combatted their own offensive difficulties with a 9-4 advantage in the ace department. Pin hitter Samantha Schnitta, the Big Ten leader in aces, recorded six and hit multiple during spots where it appeared the match may tighten.

“When someone goes off like that it takes some pressure off some other people, and I thought that kind of opened the door for us to mix and match where we were serving locations,” coach Adam Hughes said. “I thought we did a really good job of mixing and matching locations.”

Maryland notched its only Big Ten sweep against Rutgers (6-25, 1-19 Big Ten) on Oct. 5. It grabbed its second one Friday against the Big Ten’s bottom feeder.

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Maryland’s front row was stout. The defense read attackers’ shot locations and ended points with emphatic rejections. The Terps had four more blocks than Rutgers. Middle blocker Eva Rohrbach led the way with eight blocks, her most since Nov. 7.

Both teams struggled to gain any offensive traction early.

Rutgers, which entered last in the conference in kills, frequently hit spikes into the net and failed to avoid blockers’ hands. Maryland played efficiently on offense in the opener, hitting just .139 and tying the Scarlet Knights in kills.

Maryland’s serving was a key difference right away. Schnitta crushed an ace that a diving defender could only hit wildly out-of-play, extending an early Terps run. They notched three aces in the first as Rutgers, last in the Big Ten in digs, looked off-balance when trying to return well-struck shots.

“The one thing that the service pressure caused was them to be out-of-system, and we felt like that was an area that we could expose,” Hughes said.

The Scarlet Knights didn’t hit an ace in the first set and failed to force Maryland out-of-system. The Terps controlled the set throughout and took it, 25-20, on outside hitter Sam Csire’s third kill.

Rutgers looked suddenly rejuvenated to start the second set and raced out to an early lead. Outside hitter Anna Hartman led the way with well-placed kills deep in the court, beating Maryland with precision over speed.

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Schnitta’s dominant serving helped tighten things up. The graduate student crushed a few aces to bring Maryland within striking distance.

Its front row also played better defensively and rejected numerous shots. The Terps took the set, 25-19, after Rohrbach crushed a serve that just stayed inside the baseline.

Maryland finally got its offense going in the third. Freshman Katie Scherer sprayed kills around the court to put major pressure on Rutgers’ struggling back row. She finished with a game-high 12 kills on a .550 hitting percentage in her best effort yet.

“For the last two, three weeks, she’s been producing and putting up huge numbers in our practices,” Hughes said. “But there is some pressure when you start playing somebody else, and there’s just nerves of being a younger player. I think some of those things are starting to wear off.”

The Scarlet Knights collapsed, frequently crushing shots into the net and well outside of the court. Maryland took the final set, 25-22, on a service error. Both of its sweeps in Big Ten play came against Rutgers, a team that ended its season Friday with just a single conference victory.