Le Moyne (0-6)
vs.
Maryland (7-2)
September 15, 2023
Alico Arena
4:00 p.m.
Live Stats
FAU (7-3)
vs.
Maryland (7-2)
September 16, 2023
Alico Arena
1:00 p.m.
Live Stats
Maryland (7-2)
at
Florida Gulf Coast (5-4)
September 16, 2023
Alico Arena
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Watch Live Stats
COLLEGE PARK, MD - The University of Maryland volleyball team (7-2) hits the road for its final non-conference matches of the 2023 regular season at the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic held at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, FL.
The Terps start off their weekend with their first-ever contest against Le Moyne on Friday afternoon, Sept. 15 at 4 p.m.
Adam Hughes' team will then play two matches against Florida squads on Saturday, Sept. 16, with an early afternoon match against FAU at 1 p.m. followed by a showdown with the hosting FGCU later in the evening at 7 p.m.
Maryland's weekend finale against the Eagles will stream on ESPN+.
UnDMVfeated Weekend
- Maryland had a stellar first weekend back home in College Park, hosting the Maryland Tournament this past weekend, finishing the weekend with victories over Coastal Carolina and Princeton at the XFINITY Center Pavilion along with a triumph over Howard in Washington DC.
- The Terps won their first five-set match of the season Friday against Coastal Carolina, winning the first two sets before preventing a Chanticleer comeback by taking the fifth set.
- Led by an outstanding double-double performance from Sam Csire, the Terps took care of business in a sweep over Princeton on Saturday.
- Bolstered by a historic offensive performance, Maryland closed out the weekend by sweeping Howard for its first true road win of 2023.
The Terps compiled their first undefeated weekend of 2023 with wins over Coastal Carolina, Princeton and Howard.
Killing It Against Coastal
- In Maryland's five-set triumph over Coastal Carolina, five different Terps recorded double-digit kills for the first time in the Adam Hughes era.
- Sam Csire (13), Laila Ricks (13), Anastasia Russ (11), Laila Ivey (11) and Eva Rohrbach (10) each got in on the attacking fun to balance out the scoring.
- Those five, along with contributions from the rest of the attackers, led to 65 kills for the Terps, marking the first time Maryland has exceeded 60 kills since doing so against Penn State on Sept. 29, 2021.
Laila Ricks (6) set a career high with 13 kills as part of a five-set victory over Coastal Carolina.
Csire on Fire
- Senior outside hitter Sam Csire could do no wrong last weekend, serving as a catalyst for each of Maryland's three wins last weekend.
- The Strongsville, OH, native produced 40 kills (3.64 per set) while recording a pair of double-doubles against Coastal Carolina and Princeton to start the weekend, becoming the first Terp to notch back-to-back double-doubles since Csire did it herself against Michigan State and Rutgers in October 2021.
- In Friday's opener against the Chanticleers, Csire tied for the team lead with 13 kills while tying a career high with 16 digs.
- Against Princeton on Saturday, Csire smashed 18 kills — the most recorded by a Terp in a match this season — along with 10 digs in just three sets.
- While only recording nine kills in a sweep over Howard, Csire set a career-best hitting percentage of .533 in the contest.
- To go along with her single-match prowess, Csire is now on the doorstep of 1,000 career kills as she has 987 finishes under her belt entering this weekend.
With 40 kills across three matches last weekend,
Sam Csire (44) is primed to break the 1,000 kill threshold this weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic.
Dowler On The Dish
- Senior setter Sydney Dowler continued her hot start to the season with one of the best outings by a setter this season.
- Fresh off winning Big Ten Setter of the Week honors on Sept. 5, Dowler put in a stupendous performance Friday against Coastal Carolina. The Oconomowoc, WI, product dished out 57 assists while adding six digs, five blocks and five kills, including the match-clinching swing to defeat the Chanticleers.
- Dowler's Friday night performance marks the most assists by a Big Ten player in any match so far this season and the most assists handed out by a Terp since Dowler herself recorded 59 against Temple on Sept. 3, 2021.
Sydney Dowler (8) dished out the most assists by a Big Ten player this season Friday against Coastal Carolina while recording 10.91 assists per set over the weekend.
Dealing Out Aces
- Maryland has been excelling from the backline this season, ranking third in the Big Ten with 58 service aces and fourth in the conference with 1.81 aces per set.
- Two Terps have played an instrumental role in the team's serving success with senior outside hitter Sam Csire and senior libero Lilly Gunter ranking fourth and sixth respectively in service aces per set in the Big Ten.
- Gunter bolstered her numbers with a career-high five service aces Sunday against Howard.
Lilly Gunter (4) set a career high with five service aces Sunday against Howard and currently ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 0.50 service aces per set.
Russ and Rohrbach Connection
- Freshman middle blocker Eva Rohrbach and redshirt senior middle blocker Anastasia Russ are a major reason for the Terps' early offensive success, as they rank among the most efficient hitters in the country.
- Russ ranks 15th in the NCAA (third in the Big Ten) with a .473 hitting percentage, while Rohrbach follows behind at 28th in the country (sixth in the Big Ten) with a .444 clip.
- Maryland is one of just three schools to have two players rank in the top 30 in hitting percentage, alongside top-ranked Wisconsin and Ole Miss.
Eva Rohrbach (17) tied her career high with 10 kills Friday against Coastal Carolina then recorded a career-high hitting percentage of .800 Sunday in a sweep over Howard.
Live Ammo
- Former NCAA Men's Volleyball National Champion and NCAA Most Outstanding Player Ryan Ammerman joined the Maryland volleyball coaching staff in May 2023.
- Ammerman joins the Terps' coaching staff after spending the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach for his alma mater, UC Irvine, coaching the men's team to the Big West Tournament title game.
- As a setter for the Anteaters from 2004-09, Ammerman led UCI to its first two NCAA National Championships in 2007 and 2009. In his final season, Ammerman was named AVCA First Team All-American honors while winning the NCAA Most Outstanding Player award.
- Ammerman and Maryland head coach Adam Hughes had overlap during their times at UC Irvine, as Ammerman won his second national title for the Anteaters while Hughes served as a volunteer assistant with the women's team between 2008-09.
Ryan Ammerman is in the midst of his first season as an assistant coach at Maryland following a stellar playing career in the collegiate, European and international circuits and seven years of coaching at the club and college levels.
Scouting The Opposition
- Maryland's weekend slate features teams that the Terps are relatively unfamiliar with, as they have only played two combined matches played against the three teams in the tournament.
- Le Moyne is in the midst of its first season as a D-I school, transitioning into the Northeast Conference in June. The Dolphins, under first-year head coach Susan Kim, have yet to win their first match this season, entering the weekend 0-6.
- Another school that's in the midst of a transitional season is FAU, who will debut as a member of the American Athletic Conference this fall. The Owls are 7-3 to start 2023 and are coming off an undefeated weekend at home with every win coming in straight sets.
- Florida Gulf Coast is coming off a 26-7 season which resulted in an ASUN Conference Tournament title and a berth in the 2022 NCAA Volleyball Championships. The Eagles are 5-4 to open the season, and are coming off a weekend in which they faced No. 7 Texas and RV Rice in The Lone Star State.
2022 In Review
- Maryland finished the 2022 season with a 16-16 record, along with a 7-13 mark against the Big Ten.
- For the first time in head coach Adam Hughes' tenure, the Terps won seven games in the Big Ten in back-to-back seasons.
- One of the key turning points came when Maryland secured sweeps in three consecutive Big Ten road matches for the first time since joining the conference.
- Maryland's sweep streak was capped off with a dominant win at No. 9 Purdue on Oct. 16, marking the Terps first-ever top-10 road victory.
- The Terps scored their second upset win of 2022 at the XFINITY Center Pavilion on Nov. 18, with a 3-1 victory over No. 5 Ohio State, ending the Buckeyes' 14-match win streak.
