Dec. 4, 2004

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The University of Maryland volleyball team fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, 3-0 (34-32, 30-27, 31-29), to No. 2 seed Penn State Saturday night in Rec Hall. Maryland was led by Rachel Wagener and Sarah Treadwell, who each posted 11 kills for the Terps,who end their season with a 18-15 overall record.

Wagener hit a team-high .400 for the match and also added four blocks, while Treadwell posted her second double-double of the tournament with 12 digs. Stephanie Smith recorded a match-high 10 blocks to go with seven kills.

The first game had six lead changes and 16 ties, including the final knot at 32-32. It was at that point that the Terrapins, who had fought back from as much as a five-point deficit earlier in the game, had a costly service error and could not dig a Penn State attack to fall, 34-32. The Terps out-hit the Nittany Lions in game one, .312-.263, and out-blocked them, 7-1. Leading the Terrapins' block was Stephanie Smith with five block assists to go with four kills. Jennifer Dewalt led the Terps offensively in game one, registering six kills, while Maria DiLivio posted three kills and six digs.

In game two, the Terps again out-hit the Nittany Lions and held them under their season average hitting percentage of .289 (.245). Maryland notched four more blocks and Sarah Treadwell had five kills, but the Terps could not connect down the stretch and fell by a score of 30-27.

The third game was again back-and-forth, featuring 16 ties and nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than two points until the Terps used a 6-2 spurt to take a 24-21 lead. Penn State fought back to tie the game back up at 25-25, and the teams traded points to knot the game up at 29-29. The Nittany Lions got back-to-back kills to end the contest at 31-29.

Rachel Wagener led the Terps in the third and decisive game, posting six kills on nine swings with just two errors (.444). Treawell was also strong in the third game, hitting .357 and notching five kills.

Senior Maria DiLivio, playing her last match in a Terrapin uniform, recorded her 1,000th-career dig. She needed 11 going into the match to reach the milestone and finished the night with 13 and 1,002 for her career to become just the second Maryland player ever to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. DiLivio also had six kills on the night.

Terp setter Aimee Huddleston turned in an outstanding all-around performance to close out her career, finishing with 44 assists, five kills, eight digs and five blocks.

Dewalt was the other Terp who had double-digit kills, as she posted 10 to go with nine digs and five blocks.

Making their NCAA Tournament debuts, freshmen Jade Brown and Beth Gillming had strong outings, as Brown tallied four kills and two blocks and Gillming finished with 18 digs.