For the second straight weekend, Maryland volleyball (5-2) played at the Xfinity Center Pavilion, this time taking on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Terps continued their three-game winning streak with another sweep, beating Lehigh with relative ease.
Returning to the starting lineup for the first time in three matches, setter Zoe Huang recorded 24 assists, leading all players.
Maryland got off to a quick start with two kills by pin hitter Samantha Schnitta and one by middle blocker Anastasia Russ, taking a 3-1 lead. The Mountain Hawks responded with five of the next six points, including three attack errors by the Terps. After knotting the score at six with a service ace by Schnitta, both squads exchanged points.
Remaining tied at 10, a Schnitta kill was followed up by a service ace from outside hitter Sam Csire, opening up a 12-10 lead. Lehigh responded right back with a kill from outside hitter Alysia Fingall before Maryland’s outside hitter Sydney Bryant recorded back-to-back kills.
After a media timeout, the Mountain Hawks scored the next two points before middle blocker Eva Rohrbach recorded a kill. With the score knotted up at 17, Csire recorded a kill followed by a Mountain Hawks’ attack error. Back-to-back kills by Csire helped the Terps maintain a three-point advantage.
A late push from Lehigh wasn’t enough as Maryland held on to take a 25-22 opening set victory. Schnitta led a balanced attack with four kills, followed by three from Bryant, Csire and Russ. Huang tallied nine assists in the first set, leading all players.
Three straight kills from middle blocker Madison McCartney helped the Mountain Hawks open up a four-point lead to start the second set.
After a kill from Rohrbach, head coach Adam Hughes inserted defensive specialist Ally Williams into the match to serve. Williams gave the Terps the spark they needed with a service ace, giving the Terps a 8-7 lead.
“Ally does a little bit of everything for us. She is a little bit quiet at times, but if you know Ally, she’s always got a smile on her face,” Hughes said. “She’s very quick, can make defensive plays and is becoming a really good spot server for us.”
Middle blocker Emily Stewart tied the score back up at eight before Maryland scored six of the next seven points. During this run, the Terps had three kills, two from Schnitta and one from Russ. Huang also recorded a service ace, opening up a 14-9 lead. A kill from opposite hitter Natalie Lipscomb catapulted a response from Lehigh, cutting the score to two.
Csire helped Maryland extend the lead back to five with consecutive kills. Another service ace from Huang was followed by a powerful kill from Csire, giving the Terps set point. Schnitta’s sixth kill of the set closed it out for Maryland, who took it, 25-17.
The third set was tight early on, with the Terps holding a slight one-point advantage.
A kill from Rohrbach extended the lead to three before the Mountain Hawks cut it back down to one. With the score knotted up at 11, Schnitta helped spark a four-point run with two service aces, while Bryant notched a kill. Following a media timeout, the teams traded points, maintaining a three-point lead for Maryland.
McCartney cut the lead down to two with a kill before Schnitta responded right back. A kill from Bryant was followed up with an attack error from Lehigh, extending the lead to 21-17. Another kill from Bryant gave the Terps match point before a joint-block from Csire and Rohrbach closed it out, 25-19.
Schnitta led all players with 14 kills and three service aces, while Bryant and Csire trailed with 10 kills of their own. Rohrbach recorded three total blocks, tying McCartney and Stewart of the Mountain Hawks. Russ was efficient on the night with six kills in her nine total attempts.
“Today I definitely felt really confident with the setters and we have been working a lot in practice to strengthen those connections,” Russ said. “I’m trying to give them confidence that they can find us in transition and off of the first ball.”
Three things to know
1. Perfect home record. Maryland remains undefeated at home with a 3-0 record. After going 7-5 at the Xfinity Center Pavilion last season, the Terps have handled business at home early on. Maryland will look to extend its home record with another match on Sunday against winless UMBC.
2. Terps lose the blocking battle. Coming into the match, the Terps were tied for 18th in the country with 65.5 total blocks. For just the third time all season, Maryland lost in the blocking department, 6-3.
“One of the things we are learning is that we can win in different ways,” Hughes said. “Opening weekend we had a couple matches where we led the country in blocking for a little bit. Some of those teams were a little bit more physical.”
3. Schnitta remains hot. Over the last three matches, Schnitta has recorded 51 kills and 11 service aces. The 6-foot graduate student has dominated so far this season with five matches of double-digit kills.
