Maryland volleyball goes 3-0 at Liberty Invitational

Maryland volleyball succeeded on its first road trip and extended its undefeated season to 6-0 at the Liberty Invitational, defeating Liberty on Friday and Elon and Furman Saturday.

The Terps started strong against hosting Liberty, sweeping the Flames in straight sets. Maryland’s hitting percentage for the match was .362, its highest all season. Freshman Erika Pritchard led the way with 13 kills. She was one of three Terps with double-digit kills.

On Saturday morning, the Terps began the day with a game against Elon, which they won in four sets. After dominating the first set, the Terps dropped a close second set to the Phoenix. Gia Milana led with 15 kills in Maryland’s second game, but Pritchard notched 14 hits with a .414 hitting percentage.

Later on Saturday, the Terps won the first, second and fourth sets against Furman to finish the weekend undefeated. Pritchard had 13 kills with a .346 hitting percentage. Samantha Drechsel also recorded 13 kills, while Katie Myers had seven kills on 11 attempts. The Terps dominated in each set they won. In the third, they only scored 18 on a .278 hitting percentage.

The Terps’ success on the recruiting trail has carried over into the start of the regular season. Pritchard, one of the freshmen, led the Terps through the weekend. Though she wasn’t a stat leader in any individual game, she was a consistent and reliable scorer, contributing to Maryland’s ability to close out game quickly.

After the weekend, Maryland has played six games and won all of them, only once allowing another team to win two sets. The Terps will look to keep the streak alive on Sept. 8 in West Virginia at the Thunder Invite. They’ll play Toledo, Virginia Tech and Marshall next weekend.

Takeaways

1. Maryland has options. Pritchard wasn’t the only Terrapin who was consistent this weekend. Milana, Dreschel and Myers all had consistently high kill totals and hitting percentages. If they keep playing to their strengths, there’s no reason to think they can’t keep this streak going.
2. The defense is coming along. Earlier this week, we said Maryland needs to win the game with blocks. Though they put up low numbers, with their highest block total at 11, the Terps had more blocks than their opponents in each game. It’s possible this means that Maryland can be adaptable to more offensive matches. Regardless, the Terps have shown they can score, and need to maintain that they can defend.
3. Time to look ahead. Following the Thunder Invite, the Terps will host the Maryland Challenge in the Xfinity Center. If Maryland arrives at this Invitational undefeated (that’d be 9-0), then the Terps could be candidates to steal a game against a ranked team (either No. 18 Southern California or No. 9 Washington).