After sweeping its home opener, Maryland completed the comeback over Davidson in a tight 3-2 battle to extend its winning streak to five games,
Maryland started the game by rapidly building a comfortable advantage, as an early 6-0 lead ballooned to 11-5. However, the momentum quickly shifted, as Davidson clawed back to within two points.
It became a back-and-forth battle, but Maryland maintained its advantage thanks to a six-kill set from Ajack Malual. The Terps ultimately shut the door and clinched
the first set, but the battle to get there was indicative of the struggles to come.
Malual led the attack with six kills in the first set. Meanwhile, Lilly Wagner set an example with her set-ups, ultimately responsible for 12 assists. Ally Williams also saved the Terps potential lost points with eight first-set digs.
The second set was the inverse of the first. The Wildcats started with back to back kills and built a five-point lead in the early going, maintaining a minimum three-point cushion as the set progressed. Davidson continued to take advantage of Maryland’s mistakes as it built its biggest lead of the game, 14-8, before the Terps finally snapped out of their slump.
Williams continued to tee up hits for LWagner and Olivia Ruy, notching 11 assists to go along with her 12 from the first set, as Maryland steadily cut the deficit. The Wildcats’ lead was eventually whittled down to one, but Davidson was able to pull away, winning the second set 25-22.
The third set continued the intense momentum of the second. Davidson took an early lead before Maryland fought back, with its four-point run punctuated with a kill by Eva Rohrbach off a set from Wagner. Maryland took its first lead since the opening frame, but a service error from Wagner with the set 17-14 in favor of the Terps sparked a dominant 11-2 run from Davidson that put Maryland on the brink.
The fourth set seemed to give Maryland the fast start it desperately needed after falling early in the previous two sets. Errors by the Wildcats and a kill by Ruy pushed the Terps to an early lead.
That spark would soon end, though, as mistakes by the Terps returned them to the tightly-contested battle. Through the fourth set, Maryland and Davidson went blow-for-blow; neither team held more than a one-point advantage from 12-13 Davidson all the way to 20-18 Maryland.
Davidson took a timeout and came out swinging, leveling the potential game-decider at 20 apiece, before Maryland found a rhythm. Wagner’s pass found Malual for the set-sealing kill, forcing a fifth set between the two teams.
In the fifth set, Maryland was finally able to capitalize. It blew open a 3-3 game with a five-point run, with two kills from Malual and three defensive errors by the Wildcats. This afforded Maryland an advantage it would not give up. One final exclamation point from Malual sealed the comeback victory, extending Maryland’s winning streak to five games and improving it to 5-2 on the season.
Three things to know
1. Precision passing. Wagner had an excellent Saturday, racking up a season-high 48 assists. This breaks her previous season-high of 34 against William & Mary.
2. Comeback Terps. Maryland was facing a 2-1 set deficit despite a strong first set. However, the Terps were determined and passionate to fight back against a tough Davidson team, building on big late runs in sets four and five to forge the comeback.
3. Winning streak. After recording an eight-game winning streak during out-of-conference play last season, Maryland will hope its current five-game streak can set it up for greater heights. The Terps will look to make it six against Wake Forest Sunday at 1 p.m. on ACC Network.
