Despite taking the first two sets against Maryland, IU volleyball failed to seal the deal Wednesday night. The Terrapins battled back on their home court and handed the Hoosiers their third straight conference loss and sixth in total.
IU jumped out to a quick start and won two tight opening sets — 27-25 and 25-23. From there, Maryland found its groove and swept IU in the final three sets — 25-22, 25-20 and 15-12 — largely in part of the play of its redshirt sophomore middle blocker Katie Myers.
Myers dominated all night long and finished with 21 kills and seven blocks, including the game-winning kill. She led the Terrapins in kills, blocks, hitting percentage and aces.
For IU, it was more of a balanced effort on both sides of the ball. Sophomore outside hitter Breana Edwards paced the team with 14 kills, yet six Hoosiers tallied at least five kills. Seniors Deyshia Lofton and Megan Sloan tied for the team lead with three blocks.
In total, Maryland won 82 points compared to IU’s 65. The Terrapins saw their biggest winning margins in kills (66-55) and blocks (12-5), while IU won the service department by totaling five aces with seven errors, compared to Maryland’s four aces and nine errors.
With Wednesday night’s loss, the Hoosiers are still in search of their first Big Ten road win. Now at 1-6 in conference play, IU finds itself ahead of only Northwestern and Rutgers, the two lone winless teams in the Big Ten.
Next up for IU will be another road test, this time against Iowa at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
