This year’s team features several newcomers, some of whom have already seen significant playing time, such as true freshman Laila Ivey and Pittsburgh transfer Anastasia Russ. But, according to coach Adam Hughes, those new faces have had to meet the higher standards due to the team’s continued improvement.
“It’s nice to see that, as we get newcomers coming in, they’re having to pick up things a lot faster than they have in the past because these guys have pushed the bar a bit,” Hughes said.
The higher standard is noticeable in the team’s scheduling. After a lighter non-conference slate to open the season last year, in which the Terps went 12-0 and only dropped three sets total, Hughes, and the program decided to take a more difficult road this year.
As a result, they took part in competitive weekend tournaments, facing top teams, including Florida Gulf Coast and Arizona. The Terps finished with a 9-3 record, not quite as dominant of a performance as last year but coming against teams much more comparable to the talent in the Big Ten, the nation’s premier volleyball conference.
“In non-conference, you get a chance to challenge yourself and this year we challenged ourselves a lot harder than we did last year,” Hughes said. “There was no disbelief in last year’s group, there were just a lot of unknowns. This year I think we’ve got a lot more continuity and we made some nice new additions and we felt like it was an opportunity to test ourselves a little earlier in the season.”
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