For volleyball, one painful season

If you had told members of the Terrapins volleyball team how their season would end back in August, they would have been hard-pressed to believe a word of it.

After all, the team had improved its record in each season since 2008. The Terps were bringing back four of six starters and welcoming five new freshmen, including two high school All-Americans. It seemed they were on the cusp of returning to the success that has filled much of the program's history. It looked as if they might even have a shot at their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.

But then the realities of a forgettable season came crashing down on the hopeful Terps, and it wasn't pretty. A year that began with such promise devolved into one mired by inconsistency before being fully engulfed in a record-breaking losing streak.

It wasn't difficult to find the culprit — or, more accurately, culprits — behind the sudden decline. Between a rash of injuries, a thin roster with little depth and an overwhelmingly young and inexperienced team, the Terps (10-22, 4-16 ACC) often battled more than just their opponents this season.

"It's not like anything I've gone through before," coach Tim Horsmon said. "It was a rough year, and our expectations were much higher. But things happened that we couldn't control, and the things we could control, we didn't do so well. The only thing we can do at this point is to learn from this season and have that drive us into the spring and get back to where we should be."

The injury bug began before the season ever got underway. Sophomore Sam Rosario, who led the ACC in aces her freshman year in 2009, redshirted after suffering an ACL injury in 2010 and was unable to recover in time for any of this season. Senior setter Sharon Strizak missed the majority of this year due to the lingering effects of a torn labrum in her hip.

Those injuries cut the roster down to 12 active players, just enough for a single backup for every player on the court. But it only got worse.

Outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher, a freshman sensation who finished tied for second on the team in double-doubles, suffered through a concussion and a sprained joint in her right shoulder. Libero Caroline Niski fought through a torn labrum in her hip. Outside hitter Mary Cushman, the key cog to the Terps' attack, battled back problems and lingering pain from a previous shoulder injury.

As the season wore on, it became not an issue of who Horsmon wanted on the court but whether he had anyone to put there. And with only four upperclassmen — one of whom was injured for most of the season and another who was new to the program — on the roster, the inexperience became overwhelming at times.

"Week to week, we didn't know what we were going to be able to do," Horsmon said. "I think we struggled with inconsistency all year, and with a younger team, that happens."

The team was 6-6 heading into ACC play, where players hoped they could find their footing. Unfortunately for the Terps, they slipped after the first four conference matches. A small rut became a 15-match tailspin that broke the record for the longest single-season losing streak in program history.

After a victory in late September, the Terps went winless until Nov. 23.

"It was definitely a tough season for us, but as a team, we never gave up," setter Remy McBain said. "There was never a time when we didn't go into a match with the mindset that we could win, and we never played with any doubt."

Even amid the darkness that consumed the 2011 season, there is hope. The team will lose just two players to graduation, and several highly ranked recruits should provide depth to a once-fragile roster and help a program that before this season seemed back on the path to relevance.

"We were hoping we could turn the corner in ACC play, but we had a lot of youth on the court, and we're in a strong conference," Horsmon said. "You can't fault the players for that. They battled and continued to work hard, and that's the makeup that's going to make us good this spring and ready for next year."

munson@umdbk.com