Back-to-back losses for the first time all season plague Maryland volleyball (9-4) heading into its toughest matchup so far. The Terps went 9-2 in nonconference play before falling to Northwestern and Iowa, both in five sets at home.
Maryland heads north to face No. 3 Penn State on Thursday at 6 p.m., before returning home on Saturday to take on Rutgers at 7 p.m.
The first match will air on Big Ten Network, while the latter will stream on Big Ten Plus.
Penn State Nittany Lions (12-1, 2-0 Big Ten)
Head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley is in her third year with the program. In her first two seasons at the helm, she led the Nittany Lions to consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, falling in the regional semifinals in both.
Penn State is off to a great start this year with four wins over ranked teams, only losing to No. 1 Pittsburgh in straight sets. She will be looking to end a decade-long drought since the Nittany Lions’ last national championship.
Players to watch
Izzy Starck, freshman setter, No. 21 — Prep Volleyball’s No. 1-ranked recruit in the class of 2024 is having a freshman campaign to remember. Starck, a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, has picked up where she left off in high school. She is fifth in the country with 11.1 assists per set, helping her earn three consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
Jess Mruzik, graduate student outside hitter, No. 9 — In likely her final year with Penn State, Mruzik has continued last season’s success. She earned a spot on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America second team in 2023. This season, Mruzik is 17th in the nation with 4.4 kills per set and is top-25 in points per set at five. She was recently named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-8, 0-2 Big Ten)
Fifth-year head coach Caitlin Schweihofer is under a lot of pressure early. Rutgers hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2012 and has tallied just four conference wins over the past three seasons.
The Scarlet Knights have gotten off to a slow start this season, partially due to its tough nonconference schedule. Rutgers played two teams just outside the AVCA poll — Miami and Arkansas — before going to five-sets in its opening two Big Ten matches.
Players to watch
Alissa Kinkela, redshirt junior outside hitter, No. 22 — Kinkela earned second-team All-Big Ten honors last year after leading the team in both kills (344) and service aces (29). This year, Kinkela has 167 kills — the most on the team — while also ranking third on Rutgers in digs (83), blocks (34) and service aces (10). She was recently named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, becoming the first player in program history to earn the award.
Natalie Robinson, freshman middle blocker, No. 9 — Robinson has been a much-needed dominant force at the net in her first year with the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers was middle-of-the-pack in blocks per set last season, but has skyrocketed up this year to 70th in the nation. Robinson has tallied 63 total blocks so far, including 16 in the previous two matches. Her 1.4 blocks per set ranks 26th in the country.
Three things to watch
1. First conference win. Maryland has taken a hit after its eight-game winning streak ended. The Terps have fallen in back-to-back matches to unranked teams and are now looking for a conference win. Last season, it took Maryland just two matches before it got its first Big Ten win.
“I think they know that the conference is so competitive that there’s some matches, that you’re like, these are the circled ones we got to get after,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “I think that’s adding some pressure, and we haven’t handled that well.”
2. Top-five opponent. The Terps have just two wins against ranked opponents in the top-five of the AVCA poll ever. Maryland beat No. 2 Wisconsin in 2021, marking its highest-ranked victory in program history. One year later, the Terps took down No. 5 Ohio State. Maryland will be looking to add another top-five victory when it faces off against No. 3 Penn State Thursday.
3. Serving. Pin hitter Samantha Schnitta leads the nation with 44 service aces. Schnitta has helped carry Maryland to the seventh-most in the country as a team with 111 service aces. But the Terps have struggled recently, with 30 service errors over the past two matches, including two costly ones in the fifth set against Iowa.
