Volleyball has a B1G home match against the Scarlet Knights

After a disappointing home weekend against Michigan and Michigan State, the Terps face their fellow new B1G members, Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights enter Tuesday's match 7-14 overall and 0-8 in conference play. Their last win was on September 20th against Princeton. Rutgers is led by freshman outside hitter Meme Fletcher who leads the team with 2.6 kills per set. Senior outside hitter Alex Lassa is second on the team with 1.92 kills. The Scarlet Knights utilize a 6-2 offensive structure with senior Nicole Bayer and freshman Talia Holze at the setting positions.

Maryland enters the match at 7-12 overall and 0-8 in conference play. The major issue facing the Terps will be the availability of senior Ashleigh Crutcher. If Crutcher is healthy, she will add much needed offense and stability in the back court. Freshman Hailey Murray looks to continue her recent performances attacking and blocking. Maryland's setters and back row players will hopefully improve from last weekend and make a difference Tuesday night.

The latest RPI was released this week and has Maryland at 128 with Rutgers at 149. The two teams, together with Iowa, are near the bottom in all conference statistics. The Terps however have put together much better performances against B1G opponents - taking sets from Purdue and Indiana and pushing Northwestern to five sets - while Rutgers has yet to win a set during conference play. This looks to be an excellent opportunity for the Terps to get their first conference win. My prediction is Maryland defeats Rutgers 3-1 and earns their first B1G win.

The match begins at 8:00 pm and has been moved from Ritchie Coliseum to Maryland's regular home court at the Pavilion in Xfinity Center. The Terps are expecting a crowd in excess of 1,500 so seats may be limited.  The match will be televised on the Big Ten Network and will also be streamed on BTN2GO.