COLLEGE PARK, Md. – In front of a XFINITY Center Pavilion record 1,848 fans on Saturday night, the Maryland volleyball team dropped a hard fought three set battle to No. 7 Wisconsin (22-25, 26-28, 22-25).
 
"I'm very appreciative of a great crowd tonight," said head coach Adam Hughes. "It was fantastic to have a record number here tonight supporting our seniors. It was great to have a good following here for them this year. We're disappointed, we had some windows against a really good team but came up short. We'll get back to work on Monday."
 
The 1,838 fans that came out to the Pavilion are the most in the gym's history, surpassing the previous record of 1,808 set against Penn State on November 11, 2016.
 
Before the match, Maryland honored their two seniors, Abigail Bentz and Liz Twilley. The duo has been a part of 62 wins and counting and led Maryland to their most Big Ten wins ever this season. Twilley had five kills, three digs and two blocks in her final match in College Park. Bentz tallied nine digs and a third set ace on her senior night.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Erika Pritchard notched her second double-double in two nights and 13^th on the season with 14 kills and 11 digs, to go with a team-best four blocks. Freshman middle blocker Rainelle Jones hit efficiently with nine kills and only one error on 22 swings, a .364 percentage to go with three blocks. Redshirt freshman middle Katie Myers hit .556 and had three blocks and an ace.
 
All three sets were tight-knit as the Terps only lost the match by a combined eight points in the three sets. In the first, Wisconsin used a late run to take it as up 12-8, the Badgers clawed back with efficient hitting and won five of the last seven points on a 4-0 Tiffany Cark service run to get to set point. As would be the theme all night, Maryland saved two set points from a sophomore setter Nicole Alford kill and ace, but fell on a Badger block.
 
No team led by more than two points in the entire second set as the Terps and Badgers went back and forth. Maryland got down 24-22 and used a Pritchard and Jones kill to even the set at 24. Badger attack errors got it even at 25 and 26 before two kills ended the set for Wisconsin. Alford assisted on 12 of 15 kills in the set
 
The theme was the same in the third set as down 24-17, Maryland used a run by the senior Twilley to win five straight points to get it all the way back to 22. Three Pritchard kills and a Twilley kill spurred the run as Maryland would not go down easy.
 
With the home season now complete, Maryland will close out the regular season next weekend at Iowa and No. 6 Nebraska.