SAN ANTONIO -- The University of Maryland volleyball team split its final two matches of the UTSA Classic Saturday, falling to Houston in five sets before taking down UTSA 3-1 to improve to 4-2 on the season.
Erika Pritchard had a combined 37 kills on the day while
Allegra Rivas tallied a combined 43 digs.
Game One - Houston
Despite a back-and-forth first set, Maryland rallied late and came out ahead with a 25-23 set win, before having its most dominant set win of the season in the second, winning 25-9.
The last three sets were a different story, as the Cougars completed the reverse sweep and won the last three sets, 25-22, 25-17 and 15-13.
Rainelle Jones,
Katie Myers, and
Erika Pritchard all talled double-digit kills,
Taylor Smith served up five aces, and Myers notched 10 blocks, but the Terps couldn't stop the Cougars in the final three sets of the morning match.
Game Two - UTSA
For just the second time this season, the Terps dropped the opening set, this time to UTSA, 25-19. However, the first set loss would not forecast what was to come, as Maryland earned its first win of the UTSA Classic, beating the home team 3-1.
Maryland hit at a higher clip than it had all season (.281) and bested the Roadrunners in kills (53), aces (8), blocks (9), assists (51) and digs (45).
Freshman
Rebekah Rath continued to impress, tallying a season and career-high 14 kills and
Erika Pritchard paced the team with 20 kills.
Samantha Snyder served five aces, and
Rainelle Jones and hometown girl
Jada Gardner combined for 10 blocks, including the double block that ended up being the decider in the fourth set.
Up Next
Maryland hosts Princeton, Arkansas and George Mason in the Maryland Invite next weekend. The Terps' first match is vs. Arkansas and first serve is slated for 7 p.m. It will be streamed live on BTN Plus.
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