Terps Look Forward to Start B1G History at Home
10/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
By Michael Errigo
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland volleyball team will make history this weekend: that is a fact. But the question is: how much?
When the Terps take on Indiana (10-4, 1-1 Big Ten) Friday night, it will mark the first-ever Big Ten volleyball home game for this university. That alone is something to remember the night by, but the team has bigger plans. They want Friday night to forever be remembered as the first time Maryland volleyball won a game in the Big Ten.
“A win [this weekend] would mean so much, especially with how far we have come with the program switch,” said senior outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher, a big part of the Terps' seven wins this year with a team-leading 154 kills. “If we play together, play hard and play with intensity I think we can definitely get the win Friday.”
The Terps (7-6, 0-2 Big Ten) have only had two opportunities to grab their first Big Ten victory, on the road against Illinois last Friday and then versus Northwestern last Saturday. The match against the Wildcats gave the team a brief glimpse of their goal, as Maryland took the Wildcats down the wire in what was eventually a 3-2 loss (15-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 15-17).
If the Terps fail to capture the match Friday, they will have a second chance at the milestone on Sunday against 15th-ranked Purdue (12-2, 2-0 Big Ten). Both matchups will provide quite a challenge for the team, something they will need to get used to in their new conference home.
“It's the ultimate 10-week test for a team,” said first-year head coach Steve Aird, a former assistant and player at Penn State. “My life in the Big Ten started in 1997 so I've been around it a long time and I think it's the best athletic conference in the country.”
Even in the face of a historic season and a ruthless run of opponents, the team remains unfazed. “There's no intimidation factor going in, a lot of it is just excitement,” added junior libero Amy Dion. “Everyone in the country knows – there's no argument – that the Big Ten is the best conference in the country for volleyball. So it's more of an excitement that we get to play at this level. If you want to be the best, you have to play the best.”
Despite the fact that season play began on August 29, Friday will be the first match for the Terps in College Park. Early season tournaments took the team from North Carolina to Washington, so a return to a familiar floor and a familiar fan base will be a welcome change, one that can be used to their advantage.
“It's huge, what the crowd can do for us. They can steal us four or five points in a game and, in a game to 25, that's a big difference,” said Dion. “Just knowing that they are behind us every step of the way is huge.”
The team has made a concerted effort to increase their presence on campus and so far, their efforts have paid off. More than 100 students showed up for the team's public practice on Tuesday – the first signs of life from the new official student group of Maryland volleyball, the Maryland Mob. Aird hopes that the atmosphere felt in the XFINITY Center Pavilion Tuesday will be there again come Friday.
“The more people that come out, the more energy there is, the louder it gets. Volleyball is an emotion sport and it's a momentum sport and the louder and tougher the building is to play in, the more chance you have to win,” he said.
“When you look at places like Illinois and Purdue and Penn State and other places that have gone above and beyond when it comes to student participation, it might be one of the most important things for our program going forward,” added Aird. “It says that people care about the program and that they want to be part of building something, too.”
Students that do come to the XFINITY Center Pavilion on Friday night and Sunday afternoon will have a chance to watch some good volleyball and see a part of that building process. But, more importantly, they will also have a chance to be a part of something much bigger, something permanent: history.
Michael Errigo, a sophomore journalism major at the University of Maryland, is a contributing writer to umterps.com
