Volleyball Enters ACC Tournament as No. 7 Seed
6/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
November 17, 1998
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland (12-15, 5-11 ACC) enters this weekis ACC Tournament as the No. 7 seed, and will host eighth-seeded Duke on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 4:30 p.m. at Ritchie Coliseum. If the Terps defeat the Blue Devils, they will meet second-seeded Virginia on Friday, Nov. 20, at 4:30 p.m. Maryland hosts this yearis ACC Tournament for only the third time in ACC Tournament history (the tournament began in 1980). North Carolina enters this yearis tournament as the top seed and will meet the ninth-seeded NC State Wolfpack on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. This years marks the first year since 1996 that the Terps havenit entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
MARYLAND CLOSES OUT SEASON WITH TWO STRAIGHT WINS
Maryland finished its 1998 regular-season schedule with two straight wins. The Terps collected their biggest win of the season on Friday, defeating Florida State, 3-2. The Seminoles entered the match as the No. 2 team in the conference. Maryland avenged an earlier season loss to Duke on Saturday, handing the Blue Devils a 3-1 defeat. Senior middle hitter Jaime Summers (Conneaut Lake, Pa.) led all Maryland players on offense against the Seminoles. She totaled a team-high 18 kills and hit. 467. She also posted three service aces, 12 digs and six blocks. The Terps totaled a season-high 132 digs against Duke in the four-game win, as six Terps totaled double-figure digs, including a team-high 25 by junior Beth Murphy (Golden, Colo.). Offensively, junior Kate Hannas (Ellicott City, Md.) hit a team-high .395 after posting 19 kills. She also contibuted 21 digs.
WAKE FOREST TOPPLES MARYLAND
Wake Forest junior outside hitter Katie Horne recorded a team-high 17 kills and hit .395 to lead the Demon Deacons to a three-game win against Maryland. The Deacons hit .260 in game one, and came back from a 9-13 deficit, to hand the Terps a 16-14 loss. The Deacons would win the next two games, 15-11, 15-11. Leading Maryland on offense was junior outside hitter Beth Murphy who hit .317 after posting a team-high 18 kills. Senior Jaime Summers hit a team-high .353 after pounding down seven kills on 17 swings with one error. Defensively for Maryland, junior outside hitter Kate Hannas totaled 12 digs. The Terps outblocked the Deacs, 11-3, but committed 12 service errors, which claimed their demise for the evening.
SUMMERS, ADOLPHS AND CRAMER NOMINATED FOR ALL-ACC HONORS
Maryland senior middle hitter Jaime Summers, senior outside hitter Kim Adolphs (Runcon, Australia) and freshman middle hitter Katie Cramer (Loveland, Colo.) have all been nominated by Maryland head coach Janice Kruger for All-ACC honors. Cramer is a nominee for the ACC All-Rookie team while Adolphs has been nominated as one of the conferenceis top defensive specialists. Summers is looking to earn her second conseuctive All-ACC honor. She was named first team All-ACC last season.
SUMMERS AND ALBERTS NOMINATED FOR ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Maryland senior middle hitter Jaime Summers and freshman setter Libby Alberts (Eden Prairie, Minn.) are this weekis nominations for ACC Player of the Week. Both were instrumental in the Terpsi victories against Florida State and Duke this past weekend.
NET NOTES
Maryland is hitting .178 as a team, and .167 in Atlantic Coast Conference play ... freshman Katie Cramer leads all hitters with a .295 hitting percentage and is second in blocks with 99 ... senior middle hitter Jaime Summers is hitting .269 and has a team-high 100 blocks ... junior outside hitter Beth Murphy is averaging a team-high 3.35 kills per game ... freshman setter Libby Alberts is averaging 9.87 assists per game ... Murphy leads all Terps on defense with 295 digs.
TERPS FINALLY GET OVER THE HUMP
Maryland hit .205 against Duke last Saturday marking the first time since Oct. 13 that the Terps had registered a team attack percentage over .200. Maryland hit .210 against Virginia on Oct. 13.
ALBERTS HITS 1,000 ASSIST MARK
Freshman Libby Alberts has totaled 1,007 assists in her first year in a Maryland uniform. The Minnesota native has played in 102 games and is averaging 9.87 assists per game.
YOUNG GUNS
Of Marylandis six starters, only two, Jaime Summers and Kim Adolphs, have played or started prior to this year. Junior Beth Murphy is a transfer from Duquesne; junior Kate Hannas and sophomore Maren Stuart played sparingly last season; and freshman Libby Alberts is making her collegiate debut.
MICHIGAN ENDS TERP STREAK
Marylandis 33-match regular-season winning streak was snapped after Michigan defeated the Terps, 3-1, at the Georgetown Invitational on Sept. 4. It was the Terpsi first regular-season loss since their loss to Florida on Oct. 18, 1996. The Wolverines won game one, 15-8, but the Terps came back in game two, grabbing a 15-13 win. The experienced Wolverine attack proved to be too much, however, for the young Terp squad, as they took the final two games, 15-8, 15-5, respectively.
KRUGER STILL LEADS ACC ACTIVE COACHES
Maryland head coach Janice Kruger (Nebraska, e77) leads all ACC active coaches in career victories. Kruger has totaled 80 career ACC wins and 42 career losses in her 10 years in the league, and has a .656 winning percentage.
KRUGER NEARING 600 WIN PLATAEU
Maryland head coach Janice Kruger is nine wins shy of career-win No. 600. Kruger owns a 591-229-6 career record in 20 years of coaching. Kruger would become the 14th coach all-time to record 600 wins. Cal State Sacramento head coach Debbie Colberg recently collected career-win No. 600 to become the 13th all-time winningest coach. Kruger follows her as the nationis 14th all-time winningest coach.
WHAT IF...
If Maryland finishes the 1998 season with a below-.500 record, it will mark the first time since 1988 that a Terp team has posted a below-.500 mark. It will also mark only the second time Maryland head coach Janice Kruger has coached a team that has finished below .500 in her 20 years of coaching. The 1988 Maryland team, which was Krugeris first year at the helm of the Terp program, finished with an 11-22 record. Kruger has posted three consecutive 20-win seasons the last three years, including a school-record 27-win last season.
TERPS STREAK SNAPPED
Marylandis 34-match ACC regular-season winning streak came to a halt on Sept. 25, after the Terps dropped a 3-0 decision to the Duke Blue Devils. The streak dated back to Oct. 21, 1995, when the Terps suffered a 3-1 loss to Clemson. The last time a Maryland team had been swept in the ACC regular season was Oct. 20, 1995, when Georgia Tech defeated the Terps, 3-0. Maryland ran through the ACC standings in 1996 and 1997, posting an undefeated mark of 16-0 in both seasons.
TERPS BY THE NUMBERS
.295
Terp freshman Katie Cramer is hitting a team-high .295.
1.05
Freshman Katie Cramer is averaging a team-high 1.05 blocks.
2.56
Maryland is averaging 2.56blocks per game.
4
Maryland senior Kim Adolphs is ranked fourth in the ACC in digs per game with a 3.47 per-game average (Nov. 9).8
Maryland, in 1997, became only the eighth team in NCAA Division I history to record an undefeated regular-season record. The Terps finished the regular-season with a 25-0 record.
8
Maryland freshman Katie Cramer is ranked eighth in the ACC in hitting percentage with a .296 mark (Nov. 9).
17.30
Maryland is averaging 17.30 digs per game.
