Sophomore outside hitter Liz Twilley led the Terps with 13 kills and set new career highs in digs and blocks as the Maryland volleyball team upset No. 19 Ohio State in five sets on Wednesday evening. The Terrapins (10-13, 2-9 Big Ten) defeated the Buckeyes (14-9, 4-7) by set scores of 25-21, 22-25, 28-30, 25-19, 15-12.
“I am proud of my team,” head coach Steve Aird said. “They played hard and found a way to win. We have 48 hours to get ready to play Ohio State again, and I know they’ll be ready to go at home.”
Twilley hit at a .290 clip and posted seven digs and six blocks. Sophomore opposite Angel Gaskin notched 10 kills while senior middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor, junior middle blocker Hailey Murray and freshman outside hitter Gia Milana each tallied nine kills.
Freshman setter Taylor Smith had a well-rounded outing, hitting seven kills on a .467 clip while dishing 48 assists, serving three aces and posting nine digs and four blocks.
Todd
Milana had nine kills but just had an off night. She hit -.088 (and yes, that’s a negative number). I know she’s playing through some injuries and hope this was just a combination of Ohio State focusing on her and she just having one of those games.
With that said, this looked the moment when this team really gelled. So many players picked up Milana by raising their game to a new level. Twilley had her best hitting night in a long time and I think those are career numbers in blocks and digs. Smith was getting good passes and making good decisions. Kelsey Wicinski took control the way you’d want to see the libero play.
The other big factor was that Terps gave away very few points. No ball handling errors and I don’t remember them being called for a net violation either.
The Terps are 2-9 in conference and are literally 2 swings away from being 4-7 with three wins over ranked teams. (They had match points against #24 Illinois and #13 Michigan,)
They ended a 10 match losing streak against Rutgers Saturday and have now won 2 straight. But the B1G is brutal. They play at OSU Friday (and don’t think the Buckeyes won’t be loaded for bear) then at #27 Purdue followed by games at home against #3 Minnesota and #10 Penn State so if you read that they’ve lost the next four don’t be shocked.
Could they sneak an upset win or two? It’s possible. The team is coming around and seems to have found some rhythm and confidence, And that can be dangerous for any opponent.
· 11/12/2019