Terp Volleyball Set For ACC Opener

Sept. 21, 2006

Maryland volleyball travels south to open its ACC schedule against Florida State and Miami. The Terps (7-2, 0-0 ACC) face the Seminoles (7-3, 1-0 ACC) Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. match on Sunday with the Hurricanes (3-7, 0-1 ACC).

The Friday match against Florida State will be streamed live on the web and can be followed on Gametracker by visiting www.umterps.com.

Noting the Terrapins
Maryland opened the 2006 season with three tournaments, posting a tournament sweep in the TIS Bookstore Invitational at Indiana University (Sept. 1-2). The Terrapins competed in the Hilton Inn Express Invitational in Long Island (Sept. 8-9) where they lost to then-No. 17 Ohio, yet logged victories over host Stony Brook and Albany.

Jade Brown continues to lead the Terps, recording 3.72 kills per game (.260 hitting percentage), and 2.89 digs per game. Redshirt sophomore Mary Beth Brown (.230) and middle blocker Meredith Doyle (.275) have combined for 157 kills, as junior captain Beth Gillming has collected 68 kills (1.90 kpg). Sophomore Maggie Schmelzle (.220) has tallied 59 kills and is second on the team with 81 digs (2.25 dpg).

Senior setter Teryn Papp (6.10 a/g) has 189 assists for the team, while Tedi Doucet has registered 177 (4.92) at the start of her sophomore campaign.

The Terrapins are 11-7 in ACC opening matches under head coach Janice Kruger, compiling a 14-9 record overall in ACC openers.

Building Blocks

The Terrapins' dominant blocking, ranked tenth in the nation at 3.38 bpg, is led by Doyle and freshman Katie Usher. Doyle has recorded 50 blocks (9 solo, 41 assists), while Usher has 51 (1 solo, 50 assists), for third and fourth position in the ACC, respectively.

Mary Beth Brown has 42 total blocks for the Terps (1.17 bpg), while Jade Brown has collected eight solo blocks to date.

Last Week

The Terps hosted the Hilton Garden Inn Greenbelt Invitational last weekend in the Comcast Center with No. 3 UCLA, Florida International and Long Island competing. Maryland won its opening contest against the Blackbirds, recording a school team-record of 22 blocks in the 3-1 win.

Schmelzle led the Terps in the 3-2 win over Florida International recording 14 kills and seven digs.

The No. 3 Bruins were too much for the Terps in the championship match on Saturday night, falling 3-0 to UCLA. A record 1,716 fans attended the match at the Comcast Center, establishing a new attendance record.

In the Polls

The Terps have received votes in both the September 18, 2006 and September 11, 2006 USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Division I Coaches Poll.

Scouting the Seminoles

The Seminoles return three starters and three letterwinners, with eight newcomers on the squad. At 7-3 overall, the Seminoles opened the season with five consecutive wins, then dropped two straight against No. 10 Southern California and No. 6 Florida.

Collectively, Florida State has a .307 hitting percentage and averages 13.94 assists per game. Senior middle blocker Sarah Griffin (.311) has 117 kills and 39 blocks (1.08 bpg), while Makini Thompson (.323) has contributed 107 kills. On defense, libero Summer Weissing has the team-high of 3.44 digs per game, as the team holds a 12.53 dpg.

The Seminoles are coming off a five-game win Tuesday night over Miami (27-30, 30-24, 22-30, 30-12, 15-12). While FSU overtook Miami in the ACC-opener for both teams, the Friday night contest marks the first time the Terrapins have opened up their ACC schedule against the Seminoles.

Last season, Maryland won both contests against FSU with match scores of 3-0 and 3-1. In the October 30 contest, Maggie Schmelzle notched 15 kills and 16 digs for her tenth double-double of the season.

Overall, the Terrapins lead the series 11-9.

Scouting the Hurricanes

Miami (3-7, 0-1 ACC) enters the weekend after two straight losses against FSU (2-3) on Sept. 19 and LMU (2-3). The Hurricanes posted wins over Alabama, Alabama A&M and Jacksonville earlier in the season.

Miami holds a .215 hitting percentage, with Frannie Savage leading the Hurricanes with a 3.89 kpg after nine games. Ann Gallo has 111 digs, helping the team to 13.63 digs per game.

The Hurricanes are averaging 2.74 blocks per game for the defense, with Ciara Michel registering 45 blocks (1.29 bpg) for the team.

The Terps have a 4-1 series lead over Miami, claiming two victories in 2005 with match scores of 3-1 and 3-2. The Canes joined the ACC in 2004.

Former Terrapin and Miami head coach Nicole Latagne-Welch ('93) has a 99-45 career record with the Hurricanes. She has been with the Miami program since it started nine years ago.

Players Mentioned

Jade Brown

Mary Beth Brown

Tedi Doucet

Meredith Doyle

Beth Gillming

Teryn Papp

Maggie Schmelzle

Katie Usher

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