Maryland volleyball had as many wins as No. 19 Minnesota had losses heading into their matchup on Friday: eight.
It didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
As the records predicted, the Terps lost their third straight-set match of the season to the Golden Gophers, putting them at 1-16 in conference play. Maryland has also entered a double-digit skid, dropping its 10th straight game.
“We made a lot of progress in the last week and a half, and then today, it felt like we took a small or a big step back,” Coach Adam Hughes said.
The Terps (8-19, 1-16 Big Ten) started with serving, setting and attacking errors to give Minnesota the first three points of the game.
Minnesota’s Julia Hanson didn’t need the help, recording six kills in the first set to aid her team’s .382 hitting percentage.
Maryland struggled to produce offensively in the first set, hitting .154 despite the combined offensive efforts of Haley Melby and Ajack Malual, who each recorded three kills.
[Maryland volleyball drops ninth straight, swept by No. 18 Indiana]
The Terps kept it close in the beginning of the set, tied 11-11 with the Golden Gophers. However, after five straight points by Minnesota, boosting them to a 17-12 lead, Maryland coach Adam Hughes called for a timeout.
Only two points later, he called for a second timeout. It had no impact. Minnesota took the first set 25-16 shortly after with a kill by Carly Gilk.
Minnesota started the second set strong, going up 7-2 as Hughes called for a third timeout. The Golden Gophers were hitting 1.0 to Maryland’s 0.0, despite only having six attacking attempts while the Terps accounted for eight.
Maryland struggled to find its footing in the second half, hitting .065. Even Malual, the Terps’ most consistent offensive force, struggled, going the entire set with only a single kill.
Even as Melby recorded another three kills for Maryland, Hanson matched the effort with her own three kills in the second set. The Terps’ offensive struggles and a lack of effective defense culminated in 16 kills for the Golden Gophers, leading Minnesota to a 25-11 victory.
It took Maryland eight points to score in the third set, a result of a kill by Sydney Bryant. Winning 25-13, the Golden Gophers certainly didn’t need the 10 errors that Maryland added to the set.
[Maryland volleyball swept by No. 9 Purdue, 3-0, for eighth straight loss]
“Today, we never got our legs underneath us. We were never able to get in rhythm,” Hughes said.
The Terps ended with a .034 overall hitting percentage after hitting -.094 in the third set.
Malual ended the match with five kills, surpassing the 900-career kill mark. Melby finished with six kills, all in the first two sets.
Rarely throughout the matchup was Maryland able to contend with Minnesota, which dominated from start to finish. Even defensively, an area where the Terps normally find redemption, the Golden Gophers prevailed with 14 blocks while Maryland only recorded nine.
The Terps have won just one of 21 matches in program history over Minnesota.
45 minutes before the game, Minnesota players stood in a juggling circle, kicking a ball and laughing. This ease was not unfounded — it’s a continuation of the historical dominance over Maryland, and the way many opponents view the Terps.
“We’ve had a really bad season and I don’t want to think that this is okay, this is acceptable,” Hughes said. “This is not acceptable, and this is not where we want to be.”
