Terps fall in five to Towson, rebound with sweep of Navy.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The University of Maryland volleyball team split its two matches Friday at Navy in the Battle of Baltimore, dropping a tough, five-set match to Towson before rebounding with a 3-0 victory against the host Midshipmen.
The Terrapins led 2-1 in the opening match against the Tigers and led by three points late in the fourth set, but Towson fought back to knot the match at 2 apiece before taking the fifth set. Towson won by scores of 21-25, 26-24, 16-25, 25-20 and 15-6.
Sophomore middle blocker Lisa Scott set a career high with 12 kills in the loss to Towson, hitting .550 with eight blocks. Freshman Kara Bates led Maryland with 13 kills, but the Terps hit .000 and -.080 in the fourth and fifth sets, respectively.
Britney Loomis and Taylor Hawkins posted 11 kills each for Towson.
Despite the defeat, Maryland refocused and cruised in the nightcap against the hosts from Navy, sweeping the match by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-21.
Maryland led 11-10 in the first set and pulled away with an 8-1 run that was jumpstarted by three straight kills from junior Brittney Grove.
Like the first set, the Terps and Mids played each other close early in the second stanza, but another Maryland run was the difference. The Terps led 10-9 before scoring six of the ensuing seven points. Leading 20-14, Maryland closed on a 5-0 run, highlighted by a pair of blocks by senior Katie Usher. Usher had two blocks in that stretch and notched eight on the day to move into fourth place on the school’s all-time blocks list, passing Kelli Myers.
Navy played better in the third set and led by as much as four at 15-11. However, the Terps answered with a 6-0 run to take a two-point lead. The Terps never relinquished that advantage, scoring five of the final seven points to clinch the match.
Bates and Usher led Maryland with 12 kills apiece in the victory and the Terps hit .352 as a team, the best hitting percentage by a Maryland team since the Terps hit .363 Nov. 9, 2007 in a win at Miami.
The Terps are now 3-2 on the season heading into Saturday’s matches against Loyola (Md.) and Morgan State at Towson University. Maryland plays Morgan State at 3 p.m. and has little to no break before opposing Loyola at 5:30.
– TERPS –
