Maryland volleyball trailed 14-12 in the fifth set as UCLA’s Vivian Hickman took the service line.
The Xfinity Center vibrated as the Terps hoped to fend off match point. The pressure of the deciding set reflected off of the glistening hardwood.
Brooklynne Brass squatted and wildly returned the serve. Maryland fought with everything they had to get the ball over the net.
Bruins freshman middle blocker Brooke Harwood extinguished that fight as she hammered the final nail in the coffin to cap off a tight
five-set match.
Maryland fell to UCLA, 3-2, as its defensive intensity couldn’t match that of its attack. The Terps struggled to restrict UCLA’s offense in the deciding set, ultimately resulting in a thrilling loss. Maryland’s Big Ten record dropped to 1-4, and it will look to end a four-game homestand with a win against Northwestern Saturday.
No team established an early lead in the first set, with the score evening out at six. The Terps began to break away with a four-point run behind an efficient service stint from Eva Rohrbach. Maryland’s errors allowed UCLA to close the gap. Brass overswung an attack, and Sara Toth mishit a serve. A service ace by Lola Schumacher then cut the lead to one, erasing the gap opened by Maryland’s run.
Brass was all over the net in the first set. Coming out of the media timeout, the freshman outside hitter recorded two straight kills — her fourth consecutive for the Terps at the time. On the other side of the court, UCLA attackers couldn’t escape Brass’ dominating presence.
“I thought she took some great swings. I know that kid’s going to work for it. I know she wants it real bad,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “She just keeps making progress. For a young player, only playing in her fifth Big Ten game in an early part of her career, I think she’s playing pretty well.”
Although failing to snatch the lead from Maryland, the Bruins didn’t drop the first set without a fight. Ava Brown capitalized on a set from Toth to give the Terps’ set point, and Maggie Li responded with a Schumacher-assisted attack to put the Bruins down one. Brass finished off her dominant first frame with her eighth kill as Maryland took set one, 25-23.
Set two began like its predecessor, with the score knotted at six apiece. Unfortunately for the Terps, momentum swung in UCLA’s favor this time. Sydney Bryant was stuffed at the net, and Marianna Singletary followed up her block assist with an attack to begin UCLA’s breakaway. The Terps held on, trailing by just two at the 15-point break.
Rohrbach cut the lead to one with a kill coming out of the timeout. Mija Bendziute subbed in for the Bruins and logged two consecutive kills to contribute to UCLA’s four-point run.
The Terps’ crowd chanted fiercely as Bryant earned Maryland’s first point out of the media timeout. Singletary quickly silenced the home crowd as she blasted a ball to put the Bruins up, 20-16. Maryland fought, but ultimately fell short to close the set, 25-20.
Points were deadlocked to begin the third set. Li took the service line for UCLA and Bendziute notched two successive kills. Bryant shut down any hopes to break away for the Bruins with an attack that landed perfectly in the corner.
UCLA held the lead for the middle of the third set, until Raina Chwialkowski met an aggressive attack at the floor to give the Terps a chance to steal the 15th point of the set from the Bruins. Instead of racking up her 34th assist of the game, Toth rose up and dumped a ball in the center of UCLA’s defense to drive the Terps’ momentum going into the break.
Maryland held on to the energy, with Brass finding a weak spot in the defense after the intermission. Brown gave the Terps a 20-17 lead with a kill. The Terps scored four unanswered points with the help of two UCLA errors. Set three didn’t close easily for Maryland. The Bruins threatened to storm back as they tallied three straight points. Brown sealed the frame shut, 25-21, with her 14th kill of the match.
The fourth set opened up as competitive as the three before it. After tying at six for the fourth time in the match, UCLA established a lead of two off a block by its front row. Rohrbach posted two kills to keep the Terps in the game as UCLA attempted to push the game to five sets. As the Bruins took an 18-13 lead, Hughes called a timeout to regroup his team.
Maryland didn’t take advantage of the break, and the struggle to find the hardwood ensued. Singletary reached her seventh block of the game, remaining a hindrance for Maryland’s hitters. The Bruins recorded their ninth straight kill to close the fourth set, 25-13.
To replicate all of the earlier sets, the fifth set opened up even at six. Energy was high in the crowd. The Bruins matched the fans’ energy with relentless pressure.
Behind 11 kills in the frame, UCLA grabbed the deciding set, 15-12, closing out a thriller against Maryland.
“Honestly, we couldn’t find a way to get a defensive stop more than UCLA’s offense in game five,” Hughes said. “We needed to make one or two more big plays. I don’t think we lost it; I think they went around it and got the win.”
Three things to know
1. Freshman flourished. Brass and Brown both showed out on offense today despite Bryant and Haley Melby both being present for the first time in three weeks. Brown recorded 15 kills, and Brass matched with 15 of her own.
2. Offensive success despite the loss. Four Terps reached double-digit kills, and Sara Toth logged a whopping 53 assists. Although they ultimately lost, Maryland had a balanced offense.
“One of the things is when we pass well, it puts the ball in Sara’s hands,” Hughes said. “I think she’s elite, she’s a really good setter, and she’s able to make adjustments in game.”
3. Defensive collapse. In set five, Maryland couldn’t seem to find answers for UCLA’s attack. Despite productive flashes of attack, Maryland couldn’t stop UCLA for extended periods.
“We couldn’t slow them down, and honestly, that was the big difference. We didn’t error out; they were just able to hit the ball better.” Hughes said.
