Nov. 14, 2010
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland's senior quartet of Brittney Grove, Michelle Kenning, Marissa Odom and Bethany Springer received a special senior day gift on Sunday, topping Duke, 3-1, for the first time since the class arrived in College Park.
With a career-high 16 kills, Grove joined sophomore Kara Bates and freshman Mary Cushman as double-digit scorers. Bates knocked in a season-best tying 17 on .371 hitting and Cushman recorded 11 on a game-high .500.
"We wanted to beat Duke so much, "said Grove. " For the seniors it was the perfect ending to go out here at Comcast. This is huge for us and our program in general."
Maryland (19-10, 10-7 ACC) led Duke (22-5, 14-3 ACC), which ranked eight in the country in RPI coming into the weekend, in nearly every statistical category. Most notably, the Terps outhit the Blue Devils .338 to .243.
Remy McBain tied her career-high with 54 assists and Springer led Maryland's defense with 24 digs for Maryland, which moves into a four-way tie for fourth in the conference.
For Duke, Amanda Robertson had a team-high 14 kills followed by Sophia Dunworth's 13. Kellie Catanach dished out 46 assists for the Blue Devils, who remain in first in the ACC despite the loss.
"[Today's win] is the biggest we've had since my time here," said head coach Tim Horsmon. "Duke is ninth in RPI in the country. It puts us back in the mix of the NCAA tournament bubble, depending on what we do the last weekend."
The Terps will end the regular season with a three-game road trip starting on Nov. 19 at Miami before taking on Florida State and Boston College on Nov. 21 and 24, respectively.
Maryland's 19-10, 10-7 record is its best since Horsmon came to College Park in 2008. With the win against Duke, the Terps completed their first ACC weekend sweep of the season. A crowd of 750 was on hand to help Coach Horsmon honor Maryland's four seniors.
"I think all four seniors were really big today" said Horsmon. "Michelle has been out for a couiple months with her foot, but she's pushed and been really competitive and a great leader for us. Marissa has had great energy and given us everything she had. Today on the floor, Bethany was really good today defensively and really steady throughout. And Brittney brought a lot of emotion and played one of her best matches."
-ES-
