After another straight-set defeat against Penn State — in which the Terps failed to score 20 points in any set — Maryland volleyball returned home in hopes of penning a positive ending and gaining its
first-ever program win against Washington.
Despite Maryland’s best mid-set efforts, late runs by the Huskies were common throughout the night and led the Terps into disaster.
Washington was ultimately propelled by those momentum-shifting sparks, defeating the Terps in straight sets.
The first set was a close battle to start, with the Huskies taking the early lead before Duru Gökçen’s shot fell in between the Huskies’ middle defense. Ajack Malual’s and Lilly Wagner’s kills made it 4-3.
But whatever the Terps were throwing at the Huskies, Washington was responding with a point of its own. There were six lead changes and five ties to start off the night.
Despite Sydney Bryant’s block ending that run, the Huskies’ firepower was still in full display early on, as they climbed out to an 11-7 lead.
Haley Melby joined in the fray with her first point, and Malual followed with a power shot of her own. Eva Rohrbach was able to deny the Huskies’ offense and cut their lead down to two.
Maryland took the lead late in the set by pressuring the Huskies’ offense into mistakes. But the Huskies regained their advantage with a three-point run, taking a 20-18 lead heading towards the end of the set.
Washington slowly built its way to a potential first-set victory. Despite Rohrbach’s effort to keep Maryland alive late in the set with a kill, it was not enough spark for a Terps comeback. Washington clinched the first set, 25-21, on an attacking error by Malual.
The second started out in contrast to the first one. The Huskies gained early momentum with a three-point run, until a mistake by Washington gained the Terps their first point of the set to make it 3-1.
Despite a Washington mistake and Wagner kill that landed softly in between the Huskies’ defense, Washington still held a 7-3 lead early in the set.
Maryland once again gained a point coming off a timeout. After a kill by Bryant, she used another soft kill attempt to bring the Terps within five.
Malual rocketed a shot that was sent back into the crowd after it hit Washington’s defense. Then, Ally Williams provided a serve that was too much for the Huskies to handle, bringing the score to 11-8.
However, despite these points coming from Huskies’ errors, Washington still clung to the lead — briefly.
Maryland recaptured it with a five-point swing. Rohrbach’s soft touch, Bryant’s rocket and Wagner’s soft touch all found the opening, then Bryant’s kill once again was too much for the Huskies’ defense. Finally, a serve from Rohrbach snuck past Washington’s defense to make it 15-14.
However, the trend of the Huskies building a late set run brewed up once again. Washington embarked on a six-point run, and it looked like it was on their way to another clinching set.
Despite a Washington mistake that still kept the Terps alive, that late spark continued to pay dividends for the Huskies, and they clinched the second set, 25-18.
It felt like a similar start for the Terps in the third set. After dropping the first two points, Malual responded with a hammer shot that was too much to handle and Malual and Rohrbach came together to shut down the Huskies’ shot to even the set.
The Huskies returned back-to-back powerful shots that were too fast for the Terps’ defense, but then Malual defended the powerful shot well to bring the Terps within one, 4-3.
Washington’s mistakes were keeping Maryland within a point, and Melby’s kill snuck past the defense to tie the set at 13.
Soon after, the Huskies late spark returned and built a three-point lead in which Maryland called timeout and hoped that same spark could emerge to keep itself alive, down 20-17.
But Washington’s momentum was simply too much. The Terps faltered late into the set again and Washington put the nail in the coffin with a 25-18 game-clinching set victory.
“We never are happy to get a loss, I thought we played a lot better. We’re a little bit more in rhythm, had some better opportunities late in games one and two to maybe cuff up the script,” head coach Adam Hughes said.
Three things to know
1. Stopping the kills was an issue. Washington gained 14 more kills than the Terps today, as some were soft or powerful shots that the Terps couldn’t defend during the night.
2. Late sparks killed the Terps. The Terps were in a close battle in all sets but failed to generate any momentum as they neared their endings. That made them fall short in all three.
3. Season finale. The Terps will end the 2025 season hosting Oregon in hopes of ending the season with a win and ending the conference drought.
