Terps Travel To Face No. 22 Ohio State

Maryland (12-3, 2-1 B1G)

No. 22 Ohio State (4-8, 1-2 B1G)

October 1, 2023

Covelli Center

Noon

B1G+

COLLEGE PARK, MD — The University of Maryland volleyball team (12-3, 2-1 B1G) returns to the road Sunday for its fourth match of Big Ten play for a showdown against No. 22 Ohio State (4-8, 1-2 B1G). The Terps face the Buckeyes for the first time this season and for the first time since Maryland upset No. 5 Ohio State on Nov. 18, 2022, to snap the team's 14-match win streak.

The match will be played at the Covelli Center and will be broadcast on B1G+.

Running Through Rutgers

In a midweek matchup at Rutgers on Wednesday, the Terps prevailed over the Scarlet Knights, 3-1, for the team's first-ever win in a Big Ten road opener.
The Terps dominated the first two sets, hitting over .340 in each frame to take a two-set advantage. After Rutgers rebounded to take the third set, Maryland shut the door with another efficient attacking frame marked by a .412 hitting percentage and 16 kills.
Senior pin hitter Samantha Schnitta tied a season high with 16 kills while senior outside hitter Sam Csire and sophomore outside hitter Laila Ivey supplemented Schnitta's efforts with 13 kills and 11 kills respectively.
With all three hitters swinging efficiently, Maryland hit .333 in the contest for the team's highest hitting percentage against a Big Ten opponent since October 2021.

Maryland picked up its first-ever Big Ten road opener win by defeating Rutgers, 3-1, on Wednesday

Schnitta The Hitta

In her first year with Maryland, senior pin hitter Samantha Schnitta has put together a career year as one of the foremost attackers in head coach Adam Hughes' lineup.
Schnitta played a valuable role in the Terps' four-set win over Rutgers, leading Maryland with 16 kills while adding six digs, four blocks and two service aces.
The Overland Park, KS product has reached the 16 kill milestone three times this season, as she reached that mark in just over two sets against No. 19 Purdue last week.
As the midway point of the season nears, Schnitta is on pace for career highs in kills per set (2.84), hitting percentage (.292) and points per set (3.45).

Samantha Schnitta produced 16 kills for the third time this season against Rutgers, leading the offensive attack in the win over the Scarlet Knights.

A-Russ Does It All

Redshirt senior middle blocker Anastasia Russ has shone as one the most efficient hitters in the country and one of the most potent blockers in the conference as the halfway point of the schedule nears.
Russ' blocking prowess was on display last weekend against Michigan, as she racked up a season-high nine total blocks. She currently ranks 74th in the country with 1.20 blocks per set.
On offense, Russ possesses the second-best hitting percentage in the NCAA with an even .500 clip, recording 88 kills against just 11 errors on 154 attacks.
In a season and a half at Maryland, the Pittsburgh, PA product currently owns a .360 career hitting percentage, the highest in program history.

Anastasia Russ (88) swatted a season-high total blocks as the Terps tied a season best with 14 total rejections.

Double-Double Dowler

With her outstanding play through the first month of the season, it was only a matter of time before senior setter Sydney Dowler put forth her first double-double effort of the 2023 campaign.
On Wednesday at Rutgers, Dowler earned her first double-double of the year, as the Oconomowoc, WI native dished out 40 assists (10 assists/set) and picked up 11 digs.
The Sept. 5 Big Ten Setter of the Week is also on pace to become the sixth Terp in program history to record 3,000 career assists, as her total through three-plus years in College Park sits at 2,839 entering Sunday's contest.

Sydney Dowler played one of her best all-around contests of the season Wednesday, picking up her first double-double of 2023 with 40 assists and 11 digs.

Offense In Full Swing

Maryland has been one of the hottest offenses in the country to start the season, thanks to a hitting efficiency that is among the best in the nation.
The Terps are hitting .281 through their first 14 matches, good for the third-best clip in the Big Ten and the 16th-best rate in the NCAA.
In Maryland's contest against Le Moyne on Sept. 15, the Terps posted a .443 hitting percentage, the highest clip in Adam Hughes' tenure. Paired with the prior week's contest against Howard where the Terps hit .438, the Terps hit over .400 in back-to-back matches for the first time since September 2017.
With uber-efficient hitters in Anastasia Russ and Eva Rohrbach, who rank 11th and 31st in the country in hitting percentage respectively, Maryland is one of just three schools in the country with multiple hitters who rank among the top 40 in hitting percentage.

With one of the hottest offenses in volleyball, the Terps rank 16th in the country with a .281 hitting percentage this season.

A Balanced Bunch

Maryland's offensive efficiency has not been powered by one dominant force, but rather the contributions of a balanced offensive unit.
Six different Terps have multiple matches with double-digit kills in just 15 contests, led by senior outside hitter Sam Csire, who has seven such matches on the campaign.
Any offensive player on the Maryland roster can step up and lead the offense, as shown by the seven different players who have led the team in kills in a match this year.
The Terps have had at least two players reach double-digit kills in seven matches and at least three double-digit killers in five.
Additionally, for the first time in Adam Hughes' stint as head coach, Maryland had a match with four different Terps with double-digit kills against Utah Valley on Sept. 2 and a match with five different players who reached 10 kills against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 8.

Laila Ricks (left) and Eva Rohrbach (right) are two of the seven Terps who have led Maryland in kills in at least one match this season.

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 Buckeyes

No. 22 Ohio State comes into the weekend sporting a 4-8 overall record with a 1-2 mark against Big Ten opposition.
All eight Buckeye losses have come against ranked squads, as Ohio State suffered losses against No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Oregon, No. 6 Texas, No. 11 Georgia Tech and No. 18 Baylor in non-conference play.
The schedule didn't get any easier for Ohio State once Big Ten play began, as it opened on the road against No. 2 Nebraska, where the Buckeyes were swept. In the team's most recent matchup, No. 1 Wisconsin came to Columbus and defeated Ohio State in straight sets.
While the Buckeyes are 0-8 against ranked foes, they hold a 4-0 mark against unranked teams with three sweeps.
Fourth-year head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg has a handful of holdovers from last season's squad that peaked at No. 5 in the AVCA Top 25 and advanced to an NCAA Regional Final. However, the roster saw many departures due to the transfer portal this past offseason.
Senior right side hitter Emily Londot remains one of the most potent hitters in the country, as the 2022 AVCA Second Team All-American leads the Big Ten with 4.73 kills per set. Three-time All-Big Ten middle blocker Rylee Rader remains a potent threat and possesses a .345 hitting percentage so far.
In addition to the returning firepower, freshman setter Mia Tuman has played a valuable role in the Buckeye offense, ranking sixth in the conference with 9.40 assists per set while earning Big Ten Setter of the Week honors for the first weekend of the season.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Sam Csire

Sydney Dowler

Laila Ivey

Laila Ricks

Eva Rohrbach

Anastasia Russ

Samantha Schnitta

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