Terps Sweep Virginia Tech 3-0; Terrapins Now 15-1 In ACC
11/6/2005 7:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland women's volleyball team dominated Virginia Tech today for a 3-0 win (30-22, 30-20, 30-16) before a crowd of 853 at the Comcast Center. Maryland sustains its first place position in the ACC and improves its record to 15-1 in the league (24-1 overall) as Virginia Tech drops to 6-10 in the ACC (11-14 overall).
The victory marks the tenth straight win for the #25 Terrapins who are undefeated at home this year. The Terps have won 13 of their matches this year 3-0, and 30 of their last 32 matches. The 24-1 record is the second-best start in coach Janice Kruger's 18-year career with Maryland.
"We had a balanced effort by the whole team today," said coach Janice Kruger. "Virginia Tech has a strong defense and some powerful players. We were able to find some holes in their offense and we were effective with the attack. I'm very pleased with our performance today."
The Terps hit an impressive .388 on the match, and kept the Hokies to .138. The Terrapins were led by sophomore Jade Brown (15 kills, two blocks) and senior Stephanie Smith (10 kills, three blocks). Maryland outblocked the Hokies 7-3.
Maryland fell behind in the first game 3-6 before a kill by Jade Brown sparked the team. The Terps regained some points on Beth Gillming's serve and took the lead, 12-9. Virginia Tech came back and scored five points to stay in the game at 16-15. The teams went back and forth, but strong serving by Tedi Doucet built the lead for Maryland at 22-17 and the Terps never looked back. Beth Gillming had a kill, followed by Rachel Wagener, with Maryland eventually winning the first game, 30-22.
Maryland led 5-3 at the onset of the second game and held on by a two point margin. At 8-6, Brown and Wagener paired up for a key block. Virginia Tech's outside hitter Erin Brugger had 29 attacks on the day and helped bring the Hokies to a tie at 18. Maggie Schmelzle demonstrated her strong serving with a nine-point scoring run to bring the Terps to 27-19. The Hokies' Jennifer Albrecht had a kill to stay in the game at 28-20, when a kill by Beth Gillming set up game point for the Terps at 29-20, when the Terrapins won the game 30-20 on an error by Virginia Tech.
The Terps powerful play was too much for the Hokies in the third game as the Terrapins quickly built an 8-2 lead before a Virginia Tech timeout. The Terps increased their lead to 12-2 on a block by Smith and Tina Aramburu. Schmelzle had a tip for the score to go up 16-8, and some Virginia Tech errors extended the lead to 20-10. Freshman Tedi Doucet set Smith for a kill to go up 24-14 and the Terps won the game on a return error by the Hokies.
Maryland travels to North Carolina next weekend to face Duke (9-5 ACC, 15-7) Nov. 11, and Wake Forest on Nov. 12.
