Sept. 14, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland hosts Long Island and Florida International in the Hilton Garden Inn Greenbelt Invitational this weekend at the Comcast Center. The Terps play No. 3 UCLA, in their first-ever matchup, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the four-team tournament.

Last Time Out
Maryland finished second place at the Holiday Inn Express Invitational last weekend at Stony Brook University (Sept. 8-9). The Terps dropped the first match against No. 17 Ohio, 3-1, but bounced back and won contests over Albany, 3-1, and Stony Brook, 3-2.

Although the Terrapins out-blocked the Bobcats (16-7) with seven Terps registering blocks in the match, No. 17 Ohio won in four games (29-31, 30-26, 23-30 and 22-30) in the opening match in Long Island, N.Y.

Junior outside hitter Jade Brown led the Terps with 20 kills, 14 digs, and five solo blocks. Meredith Doyle tallied eight kills (.294) and three solo blocks.

In the matchup against Albany, the Terps swept the Great Danes (30-25, 30-17, 31-29), as Maryland notched a higher hitting percentage (.265-.130) and more digs (45-35). Jade Brown and redshirt sophomore Mary Beth Brown notched double-figures in kills for the Terps. It was the second shutout of the season for the Terrapins.

The match against host Stony Brook proved to be a challenging five-game contest with the Terps coming out on top (30-25, 30-24, 30-32, 22-30, 15-13). Three Terrapins recorded 10 or more kills, as the Terps out-blocked the Seawolves (19-7).

The Terps opened the season with three consecutive wins to claim the tournament title at the TIS Bookstore Invitational at Indiana University (Sept. 1-2). The Terps swept Chicago State (30-18, 30-14, 30-21) for the team's first shutout of the season.

A Look at the Terps
After six games, the Terps are registering a .242 hitting percentage and are keeping their opponents to .154. They average 3.15 blocks per game, with over 75 total blocks, and 12.54 digs per game.

Junior outside hitter Jade Brown leads the team with a .309 hitting percentage, while outside hitter Mary Beth Brown (.259) has dished out 58 kills and freshman Katie Usher tallied 37 (.247). Middle blocker Meredith Doyle leads the team with 31 total blocks, as Beth Gillming and Maggie Schmelzle have 59 and 53 digs, respectively.

Making it Work
After notching five double-doubles in six games, Junior outside hitter Jade Brown leads the team in kills (4.25 kpg), boasting 102 kills and 71 digs (2.96 dpg). She holds the team-high of ten service aces and has 12 blocks for the Terrapins.

Brown tallied twenty kills twice in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational, finishing the week with a .328 hitting percentage. Brown was selected the ACC's Co-Player of the Week on Sept. 11 and was named Most Valuable Player of the TIS Bookstore Invitational earlier in the season.

About the Hilton Garden Inn Greenbelt Invitational
The Terps are hosting the Hilton Garden Inn Greenbelt Invitational this weekend, featuring Long Island University, Florida International and No. 3 UCLA. Maryland will play the Blackbirds Friday at 7:00 p.m., followed by a Saturday contest against the Golden Panthers at 11:00 a.m. It will be the second meeting for the Terps against both teams.

The highly-anticipated matchup between the Bruins and the Terps, the first ever, takes place Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. WMUC radio will broadcast the match live.

Admission and parking to the matches is free. All the matches can be followed on Gametracker.

Scouting Long Island
The Blackbirds come into the weekend with a 6-4 mark after sweeping Harvard (30-22, 30-23, 32-30) and Binghamton (30-24, 30-24, 30-22) in Cambridge. Long Island has won its last four matches, also topping NJIT and Rutgers.

The Blackbirds lost nine starters from last season's team which finished 8-0 in the Northeast Conference. Martina Wagner leads the team with 170 kills (5.15 kpg) for a .231 hitting percentage, while Svetlana Simic has the team-high of 136 digs (4.12 dpg).

An Eye on FIU
The Golden Panthers picked up their first tournament win of the season last weekend, defeating Northern Arizona, 3-1, for the Fiesta Bowl Volleyball Tournament title. FIU is 7-2 heading into the weekend, having dropped games to BYU (Aug. 25) and California (Sept. 2) in three games.

Junior setter Keila Oliveira, named the Fiesta Bowl's Most Valuable Player, posted a match-high of 54 assists and a team-high of 13 digs, while freshman Yarimar Rosa has recorded five matches with 20-plus kills.

About UCLA
The Terrapins meet the No. 3 Bruins for the first time in a Saturday evening contest at 7:30 p.m. at Comcast Center. UCLA (10-0) defeated Towson 3-0 (32-30, 30-23, 30-25) Tuesday night in Baltimore. Senior middle blocker Nana Meriwether, a native of nearby Potomac, Md., and Ali Daley each notched 13 kills against the Tigers.

The Bruins (10-0) posted victories at the Cincinnati Tournament (Aug. 26-27), the Hawaiian Airlines Tournament (Sept. 1-3) and the Pioneer Classic (Sept. 8-9) in Denver. UCLA begins their Pacific 10 conference schedule next week against Oregon and Oregon State.

Head coach Andy Banachowski (UCLA '68) is in his 40th year with the Bruins, holding a 1004-266 (.791) career record.

Coming Up
Maryland launches its ACC schedule next weekend against Florida State on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. The Terps then play Miami on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. before heading back to College Park.