Terps get swept by No. 2 Nebraska
They may have been out-hit, out-played and swept, but the Maryland volleyball team definitely took the time to learn some lessons when they played the defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday afternoon.
Maryland was out-hit .429 to .081 and out-blocked 12-3 as they fell to No. 2 Nebraska 25-16, 25-14, 25-17, but junior middle blocker Hailey Murray hit an impressive .500 with nine kills while freshman Gia Milana led the Terps with 11 kills.
“I think what you saw today was the defending national champions playing at a really high level,” Terp head coach Steve Aird said. “They played a really clean match. For us, it was another great match to gain experience. Hailey had a great match offensively and did some really nice things. Nebraska is an exceptional team, and we definitely learned some lessons today.”
Nebraska hit over .530 in their first two sets.
After early exchanged of points Maryland trailed by only one point at 13-12, but Nebraska started to separate themselves. They earned three-straight kills to go ahead 16-12. Murray earned a kill to end the mini run, but the Cornhuskers continued on to out-score Maryland 12-2 as they took a 24-14 lead.
Maryland had two set points saved by two Nebraska errors, but Mikaela Foecke smacked a kill at the end of win the set for the defending champions.
Maryland kept things relatively close early in the second set too, but six-straight Nebraska point gave them a 14-5 lead. Maryland couldn’t string together enough offense to make up for the deficit. Nebraska had an answer for everything Maryland did until they took the second set too.
The Terps led Nebraska briefly in the third set and had them close at 12-11, but a 6-1 run gave the Cornhuskers the separation they needed. Maryland got it back down to a three-point differential after three-straight points to make it 19-16, but five in a row for Nebraska lined them up for match point. A service error extended the match one more serve; however Maryland gave it right back with an error of their own.
Maryland will remain at home for a match against Michigan on Wednesday, still searching for their first conference win of the year.
Corey Johns
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