Volleyball's losing streak moves to 11 after weekend shutout

After a winless October, the Terrapins volleyball team entered Friday's matchup with Clemson hoping a new month would mean new hope for ending a nine-match losing streak.

But as the Terps turned one page, they couldn't turn another. With two losses — the team also fell to Georgia Tech yesterday — the Terps remained in the rut that has consumed their season of late. Despite some notable individual performances, the Terps were unable to string together much as a team, losing their 11th straight match to tie the program's single-season losing streak record.

"It's been a common theme," coach Tim Horsmon said. "We have opportunities, but we're not executing when we need to, and a lot of players are making too many mental mistakes. We have to be a better-coached team. I think if that happens, we'll start winning some of these matches."

Clemson (18-8, 10-5 ACC) defeated the Terps (9-18, 3-12), 18-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22, on Friday despite noteworthy numbers by the home team. Setter Remy McBain had her fourth triple-double of the season with 48 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills, and the team's outside hitters recorded high marks as well. Sophomore Mary Cushman delivered a career-high 19 kills, tops on the season for any player on the team. Senior Maddi Lee notched a season-high 16 kills, and redshirt freshman Carlisle Abele tallied a career-high of 11 kills.

Their match against Georgia Tech — a 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-15 loss — however, had few redeeming qualities. The first set went back and forth, including 11 ties and eight lead changes. After the score was deadlocked at 17, however, the Yellow Jackets (15-11, 8-7) claimed the largest lead of the match at 22-17 after three service aces, an attack error by the Terps and one of Georgia Tech's Monique Mead's 10 first-set kills. The Yellow Jackets took the first set, 25-21.

The second set was just as tight until an early service error by Mead handed momentum to the Terps, who scored four straight points to open up a 9-5 lead. For the rest of the set, the Yellow Jackets got to within just three points of the Terps, who tied the match with a 25-18 set victory.

Although the Terps outhit the Yellow Jackets in terms of attack percentage in the third set, they didn't obtain the actual result they hoped for. After at one point trailing 13-9, they rallied and eventually held a 23-22 lead late in the set. But Mead, the ACC's leader in kills per set, wouldn't be denied. She and the Yellow Jackets stunned the Terps with a kill and service ace, in addition to an attack error by the Terps, to close out the set at 25-23.

The Terps were unable to put an offensive performance together in the fourth set to extend the match. They had just a 12.9 attack percentage in the set, compared to a 48.3 percentage by the Yellow Jackets. Throughout the match, Mead's play dominated the Terps. The junior standout had 29 kills, as well as nine digs, to bury the struggling Terps.

"I think everybody in the conference knows what she's going to do with the ball," Horsmon said, "but she's just such a physical athlete that even though we did some things, we weren't able to shut her down. Offensively, she single-handedly beat us today."

Although some players had standout play, such as Lee tallying another 14 kills to her weekend and Cushman adding 10 kills and seven digs, it was just not enough for the Terps to avoid tying the longest single-season losing streak in program history. The longest losing streak in program history lasted for 18 matches and extended through the 1987-88 seasons.

"We didn't have everybody show up," Horsmon said of his team's performance against Georgia Tech. "Until we have everybody competing consistently at a high level, we will always be compensating for a couple of players that maybe aren't having a great day or weren't ready or as ready to play that day. We're not good enough at this point to be consistent."

munson@umdbk.com