Maryland Loses in Four Sets to Illinois on Dig Pink Night

Friday, October 10

College Park, MD

7 PM

Maryland

7-8,0-5Big Ten

Illinois

9-5,4-1Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Illinois	24	25	25	25	3
Maryland	26	23	18	23	1

Maryland Loses in Four Sets to Illinois on Dig Pink Night

10/10/2025 7:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Ajack Malual tallied 19 kills on Friday night as Maryland and Illinois fought for a cause bigger than volleyball.

COLLEGE PARK, MD — Maryland and Illinois fought hard for four sets (26-24, 23-25, 18-25, 23-25) and traded scoring runs on Friday night at the Schanwald Pavilion, but the Fighting Illini (9-5, 4-1 Big Ten) came away with a four-set victory over Maryland (7-8, 0-5 Big Ten) in the Terps' Dig Pink match.

Painted the Pav 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒌! 💕 pic.twitter.com/EJN4t17JMj
— Maryland Volleyball (@TerpsVolleyball) October 11, 2025

Maryland won a tense first set after erasing a number of deficits. Maryland used a quad of service aces and nine blocks to snag a 26-24 set win from the Fighting Illini.

Maryland takes set one! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZlHLoTOLtw
— Maryland Volleyball (@TerpsVolleyball) October 10, 2025

Maryland looked prime to take the second set, but a late 7-0 run from Illinois saw the Fighting Illini take a 25-23 second set win despite three more Terrapin aces. Another close set went Illinois' way late in the third frame as the Fighting Illini found a 25-18 victory.

The final set featured a slew of runs from each side, but Illinois ended the night with a 25-23 set win to continue its strong start to conference play.

Ajack Malual surpassed the 200-kill mark of the season with her 19-kill, two-ace night. Eva Rohrbach recorded seven kills and a trio of aces on Friday while Lilly Wagner collected six blocks.

AJ is our first Terp to double-digit kills tonight.

S4| Maryland 3, Illinois 2 pic.twitter.com/06SX2tvTLT
— Maryland Volleyball (@TerpsVolleyball) October 11, 2025

How it Happened:
Set 1:

A kill from Duru Gokcen started the night.
A service ace from Haley Melby put the Terps up 5-4.
The Fighting Illini used a 4-0 run to take an 8-6 advantage.
Rohrbach evened the match at 8-8 with a service ace.
Illinois stormed forward to take a 13-10 lead.
An ace from Malual brought the Terps within one, 14-13.
A kill from Rohrbach evened the set at 16-16.
Maryland took a 18-16 lead with a 7-2 run.
Illinois retook the lead with 5-0 run.
Rohrbach's second ace of the set brought Maryland back within one, 21-20.
Maryland evened the set at 21-21 to force an Illinois timeout.
A kill from Gokcen tied the set at 23-23.
Malual's fourth kill of the first set sealed a 26-24 first set win.

Set 2:

Illinois opened a 4-1 lead to start the set.
An ace from Malual brought the Terps back within one, 5-4.
Maryland used a 4-0 run to take a 6-5 lead.
A Sydney Bryant kill evened the set up at 10-10.
Another kill from Rohrbach kept the set tied at 13-13.
Melby's second ace of the night put UMD ahead 15-14.
More kills from Rohrbach and Bryant put Maryland up 17-15.
Rohrbach's third ace forced an Illinois timeout as Maryland took a four-point lead.
The Terps used a 5-0 lead to take a 20-15 lead.
A pair of kills by Wagner and Bryant gave Maryland a 22-17 advantage.
Illinois used a 7-0 run to get back ahead 24-22.
The Fighting Illini took the second set 25-23.

Set 3:

Illinois took a 3-1 lead early in the set.
Maryland took advantage of a trio of consecutive Illinois errors to claim a 7-4 advantage.
A 4-0 Illinois run evened the set at 9-9.
An ace from Wager put Maryland up 12-10.
Maryland was ahead 15-12 at the media timeout.
The Fighting Illini took a 17-15 lead with a 5-0 run.
Malual's ninth kill gave the Terps their 18th point of the set.
Illinois took the second set 25-18.

Set 4:

The set started with competitive ties at each mark through 4-4.
A 3-0 Terp run evened the set at 7-7.
After falling behind, Maryland used another 3-0 stretch to tie the match at 12-12.
Illinois responded to take a 16-13 lead.
A timely ace from Wagner evened the set back up at 18-18.
Another Malual kill gave the Terps their 20th point of the match.
Illinois took the final set 25-23 to end the night.

Adam Hughes Message:

"I think we're a pretty mature and experienced group."
"I thought we did some nice things. We did a really good job from the end line."
"We set the tone pretty fast. We put some emphasis on starting fast in practice this week, and it was nice to get up 1-0."
"We had a great home crowd."

Numbers to Know:

100: With her seven kills, Rohrbach went over 100 kills on the season.
200: With her 19 kills on Friday, Malual eclipsed the 200-kill mark for the season.

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