Riding four consecutive straight-set victories, Maryland volleyball continued its home tournament against the St. Peter’s Peacocks. The teams found themselves in a rare first-time match-up against a new opponent.
The Terps continued to ride their sweep momentum into another match, securing the win in straight sets.
Maryland started out strong as star graduate student Haley Melby served the first point of the game, which fell into a within-system response for the Peacocks. However, freshman Ava Brown
brought the first point of the match home with the first kill of the afternoon. The Terps rode this momentum into a 6-0 run, eventually forcing the Peacocks to call time out.
Their attempt to reset failed, as Sydney Bryant strategically aimed an angular shot. Eventually, through strategic blocks and kills, the Peacocks begin to learn how to push Maryland out of its comfort zone, scoring a couple points against their aggressive counterparts.
The Terps built an eight-point lead after another impressive run. With another calculated shot from Bryant, the Peacocks couldn’t snap Maryland’s endless momentum.
Even against a large lead, the Peacocks brought energy for the rest of the points, aiming to slow down Maryland’s runs. In response to Duru Gökçen kill, the Peacocks wanted to prove themselves and returned the next point with another kill, earning them a point.
A combination of great frontline defense between players Sara Toth, Eva Rohrbach and Melby as well as an angled shot from Ellis Crawford handed the Terps their first set point of the match. But an unforced service error caused Maryland to stumble, losing two points prior to the end of the set. The Terps turned to Bryant for her signature kill — she finally gaveMaryland the set at 25-13.
Looking towards the second set intending to maintain the same momentum, Maryland started strong with a ferocious block against a Peacock kill. After a 3-0 run, the Peacocks finally got on the score board due to a Maryland out of bounds hit. Melby hit another lethal kill down the court that scored a point for the Terps. For their second point of the night, St. Peter’s continued to think creatively, forcing the libero out of their comfort zone and causing an out-of-system play. The long rally kept Maryland scrambling, barely making shots over the net, and eventually setting the Peacocks right for the kill.
However, Maryland’s skill outclassed the Peacocks’creativity, propelling it to a 9-2 lead. Rohrbach’s aces, a small part in the 6-0 run, extended the Terps’ advantage further to 11-2. Even with a significant lead, the Terps kept applying pressure.
“We sort of treat every day as what’s our best, and not get caught up in wins and losses,” head coach Adam Hughes said.
Set two continued with another 6-0 run from Maryland, featuring two Raina Chwialkowski aces and furthered their advantage to 19-5. With an insane kill from Brown, a strategic slight touch from Rohrbach and an iconic kill from Melby, the Terps found themselves, once again, at set point. But the battle was not over yet.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Saint Peter’s added two more points through long rallies, which forced Maryland to play out-of-system. Yet, navigating those broken plays is what the Terps were trained for.
“Everything’s a little bit away from a system and a lot more dedicated to how do we try to slow this team down,” Hughes said.
Two points later, Maryland regained its footing and strategy with a simple touch over the net, earning them another set. With a commanding 2-0 set lead, the Terps showed no signs of slowing down as they headed into the next game.
Once again, Maryland sparked an early 5-0 opening run behind another Chwialkowski ace. St. Peter’s answered with a brief two-point push, but a service error handed momentum right back to the Terps at 6-2. Rohrbach then hammered a kill to stretch the lead to 9-3. The Peacocks fought back, capitalizing on Maryland’s errors to trim the deficit to 14-10. Out of a timeout, Davidson answered with a crucial ace to make it 15-10.
St. Peter’s stayed competitive through scrappy defense, but hitting errors kept them from stringing points together, moving the score from 17-11 to eventually 22-12. A miscommunication gifted the Peacocks a point, but it was too little too late. A 7-1 run ultimately put the set away at 25-16.
The decisive non-conference home victory keeps the Terps’ momentum rolling. With five straight sweeps in a row, the Terps head to North Carolina on Thursday to play Campbell University at the ECU tournament.
“We’ve got a pretty good road weekend coming up against some really good teams and a short window to get better,” Hughes said.
Three things to know
1. Strength on offense. Seen on the court today were the power behind kills from many Terps, but most identifiable in Bryant and Brown. With undeniably intense shots, Maryland can keep itself in games against stout defenses.
2. Five straight sweeps. With five sweeps in their last five matches, Terps will carrya large wave of momentum into the ECU tournament. More non-conference lineups will test the team’s skills this weekend.
3. Out-of-system play. Maryland found themselves struggling with strategic shots that required out-of-system hits. Moving on, the team will likely focus on how to minimize scrambling in moments like those.
