Maryland Volleyball Wins First Match of the Season

Head Coach Adam Hughes notched his first win as the leader of Maryland volleyball with a straight set win (25-17, 25-15, 31-29) over Wake Forest on Friday in the season opener.


Hughes served four years as an assistant coach, helping build the program, before being promoted to head coach this offseason.

The sophomore duo of Jada Gardner and Erika Pritchard combined for 23 kills in the match with Gardner totaling 12 and Pritchard 11. Freshman Allegra Rivas, who got the start at libero in her first match as a Terp, posted 17 digs.

“That’s a really good road win for a young team,” said Hughes. “I thought we came out and served pretty well and kept our errors low. It was exciting to see how we battled through some adversity in the third. We had some opportunities to battle back and I’m proud of how we competed down the stretch.”

Maryland totaled nine blocks as a team to Wake Forest’s five. Redshirt sophomore Katie Myers, playing in her first game back after suffering a season-ending injury last season, tallied a team high six. Myers also had five kills at a .500 clip and tied for a team-best two service aces.

Pritchard and senior outside hitter Liz Twilley led the way in the first set, posting four kills apiece. Sophomore setter Nicole Alford assisted on 10 of the 13 Terps kills on way to 26 for the match. Maryland went on a 7-0 and 8-0 run respectively in the half en route to the set victory.

The Terps dominated the second set, with their biggest lead coming at 10 points, holding on after up 20-10. Maryland took advantage of 12 Demon Deacon errors and got help from four blocks from Myers. Pritchard tallied five digs while adding two kills and a block.

The third set was tight throughout as Maryland battled off two Wake Forest set points and came back from down 18-15. Gardner, Pritchard and Twilley combined for 15 kills, with Twilley at a .500 clip. With the set tied at 29, Maryland used a Wake Forest attack error and then ended it with a junior setter Samantha Snyder ace to seal the deal and move to 1-0 on the young season.

Tomorrow, Maryland will play two games at two different locations, first playing at UNC Greensboro at 11:00 a.m. before going back to Wake Forest at 5:30 p.m. to take on Air Force.

-Via Maryland Athletics 



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