Coming off a 3-1 defeat to Illinois, Maryland volleyball returned home to face Wisconsin in hopes of rewriting the same ending as the 2021 contest, when the Terps pulled off an upset for their first-ever
win against the Badgers.
Finishing sets was Maryland’s biggest flaw of the day, falling into deficits late after strong starts in the first two sets. Then, that early-set spark was extinguished in the third; they were dominated in the final frame.
Wisconsin earned the 3-0 victory over the Terps Sunday at the Pavillion.
Maryland opened the game on a strong note, with two service errors by the Badgers and a fast kill shot by Haley Melby in the soft spot of the court between the Badgers defense.
Maryland jumped to a 4-1 lead early. Despite Wisconsin building a small run to cut the lead down to 5-4, a point later, Malual responded with a kill of her own that was deflected, but in an unreturnable spot of the court.
Sydney Bryant got involved with a soft kill that confused the Badgers’ defense as it landed in the tight court space and Malual continued her strong day with another kill shot towards the back end corner of the court to build the Terps lead further, 9-4.
The Terps continued defending their five point lead with small runs, but Wisconsin kept on their tail. That allowed the Badgers a momentum-swinging opportunity, as they embarked on a three point run to cut the lead down, 12-11.
Soon after, Wisconsin would build a three point run to take the lead in the middle of the set, 16-14. But Eva Rohrbach spiked a ball that landed dead center of the court and the defense stepped up for the block, tying the game at 16.
Wisconsin continued relying on their runs to take the lead throughout the set and did that, embarking a four point run to take their biggest lead of the set 22-18.
Despite Malual’s best efforts with her kill shots late in the set, both landed in the side area of the court, Wisconsin would clinch the first set with a kill shot that the Terps couldn’t return, 25-20.
Maryland opened the second set similarly to the first, embarking on a three point run with service aces by Addie Canady and Malual’s kill shot targeting the corner of the court.
Wisconsin tried to respond, but Maryland capitalized on the Badgers attacking mistake with a soft kill from Rohrbach right near the Badgers defender. Melby copied the same shot attempt to the middle-side court, giving the Terps a 6-2 lead.
After a quick burst from the Badgers, Maryland embarked on a three point run with a Rohrbach kill shot targeting the middle side starting things. Bryant’s subsequent kill was too strong for Wisconsin to return, and Maryland’s defense found a block to increase the Terps lead to 9-4.
However, the Terps lead slowly faded away. They failed to fight back against a strong Wisconsin streak and soon found themselves trailing, 19-15.
With the Badgers one point away from a two-set lead, Malual’s kill shot deflected off a defender and into the crowd, giving the Terps life. But Wisconsin responded with a kill of its own to clinch the frame, 25-19.
Heading into the third set, the Terps needed a vast improvement to force a fourth and avoid the sweep. But the opposite happened — the Terps fell into an early 7-2 deficit.
The Terps had no response to Wisconsin’s high-powered shots — specifically those that landed in the middle of the court in between defenders — throughout the early goings of the set.
Maryland was fading fast, putting itself in its biggest deficit of the game. Errors that glanced off the net and overpowered shots that landed out of bounds muddied the Terps’ ability to stack points, and they eventually trailed, 17-6.
Wisconsin only continued its dominance from there, clinching the third set and completing the sweep, 25-12.
“We’re a growing team against a top 10 team, we would need all these opportunities,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “We need to value every chance we can, because there are great chances to grow.”
Three things to know
1. Early sparks, slowly extinguished. The Terps opened the first and second sets strong, building solid leads but found themselves unable to finish the job.
2. Errors. Maryland had 29 errors compared to Wisconsin’s 17. The majority were attacking errors, which stunted the Terps’ offensive momentum.
3. Can Maryland break the conference woes? Maryland fell to 0-6 in conference play Sunday. They will have another opportunity for its first conference win on Wednesday against Rutgers.
