Terps Ready to Embrace Challenge
9/14/2017 9:30:00 AM | Volleyball
By Josh Schmidt
It's a Monday evening around 7 p.m. when Terps volleyball coach Steve Aird halts warmups and gathers his team at center court. The team is on the main XFINITY Center floor, and the team is listening intently to Aird discuss the tough slate of games the Terps face this weekend at the Maryland Challenge.
“We can do this, we can compete with these teams,” Aird said. “It's not about if you believe you can go out there and do something special, it's about if you believe you deserve to.”
The young roster seemed to internalize Aird's message before practicing their serves moments later. The Terps will take on No. 18 Southern California on Thursday before facing off against Oklahoma and No.7 Washington on Friday. The Terps are playing this trio of teams for the fourth consecutive year, but for the first time in College Park.
While both the Terps and their opponents have changed over the years, the weekend still presents an opportunity to measure the team's progress over Aird's stint in charge. After dropping all three matches in 2015, the Terps registered a 3-1 victory over Oklahoma last season, a tangible sign of progress.
“I feel like every time you play someone you're measuring up to them and seeing how you do against them,” outside hitter Gia Milana said.
The Terps host three programs who have a rich volleyball tradition. USC has two titles since 2002 and Washington has made the NCAA Tournament every season since that same year. Even the Sooners, who are suffering a down season, made the postseason eight out of 11 seasons starting in 2006.
This weekend will be a litmus test for a young Terps roster that boasts only two seniors. The heightened atmosphere will be new for the 12 underclassmen, but Aird isn't too worried about them.
“We're so heavily underclassmen that a lot of them don't know what's coming,” Aird said. “I think so much of it is developed over time. I just hope they compete towards the high end of their ability because I think we have it in us.”
It's those accolades that made this tournament so enticing to Aird when he was hired by Maryland. Aird immediately began organizing the tournament and repeatedly told his young recruits that in September 2017, they could get the opportunity to play storied programs on their home court.
After three years of waiting and just as many different recruiting cycles, the weekend as finally arrived.
“When I took the job this was a tournament I wanted to be a part of,” Aird said. “I wanted to put the tournament together so that by my fourth year we would have a team that I thought was worthy of being in this tournament. Now we're coming in 9-0 with a bunch of young kid and I'm excited about that opportunity.”
Now that the team is preparing for the weekend and tasked with facing two top-25 teams, Aird isn't just excited, he sees an opportunity. Aird and his coaching staff have been studying film on all three teams this week, and says he feels like his players may finally be ready to match their opponents on the court.
So, Aird stepped onto the court and confidently said to his coaches, and then his players, “We can compete.” Since he believed they could win, he asked his roster to believe that they deserved to win.
During that Monday practice with only a few days before their first game against USC on Thursday, the players were getting one of their few opportunities to practice on the main floor.
The opportunity to play on the main XFINITY floor is an added bonus for the young team who usually plays in the smaller Pavilion. Even if it takes a bit of adjustment at first, it's special to play in a large venue under the retired jerseys of former Maryland basketball stars.
“Honestly I love it,” Milana said. “I love the big atmosphere. I love the lights. I just love everything about it so I'm excited to just practice here, let alone playing a game.”
