Brooklynne Brass spiked the final ball, clinching a 3-2 win for Maryland volleyball, and the court at XFINITY Pavilion erupted in chaos you love to see. Players were going nuts with victory dances, mobbing Brass in a huge group hug, and charging the hardwood to celebrate right there with the pep band. It was pure, unadulterated joy, all of them screaming “Go Maryland” as one loud, happy unit.
After 351 Days, The Terps Finally Break Through
This wasn’t just any win, either. The Terps locked down an emotional victory in five intense sets against Iowa on Thursday night, finally breaking a conference win drought that had stretched for 351 agonizing days. Head coach Adam Hughes was pretty clear on what it meant. He said, “We went through two top-15 teams on the road, and did it with probably four or five freshmen out there… It feels really, really good to get a win.” After recent games where they started slow, Maryland came out firing in the first set, snagging a point off Brass’s serve. It was a grind, though, with Iowa and Maryland trading blows in a 4-4 run, then again at 12 apiece. Neither team could get ahead until Duru Gökçen delivered a massive kill, giving Maryland a 19-18 lead. That sparked a quick 4-0 run, pushing them to a 21-18 advantage. They held on, setting the pace, and won that first set 25-20. Hughes was stoked, noting, “We were passing really well in game one. It’s a field possession, realistically. So if we’re passing well, we’re getting enough offense at them.”
Freshmen Resilience Shines Through a Five-Set Slugfest
That first set loss fired up the Hawkeyes, though. Iowa got on the board in the second set after an attack error from Brass. Eva Rohrbach tied it up with a vicious kill, but then Iowa went on an eight-point tear. Henlee Moszkowicz dropped a powerful service ace that stretched Iowa’s lead to 20-12, ultimately securing the set 25-13. The Pavilion was absolutely buzzing with tension as the teams headed into the third set, tied at 1-1. The crowd was wild, with opposing fans chirping and the pep band roaring, forcing both squads to lock in on every single point. Maryland broke a tie with a 9-7 lead thanks to huge kills from Rohrbach and Sydney Bryant. They were trailing Iowa in service aces and had coughed up more service errors, so they desperately needed to find some serving pressure. And they did! Maryland closed out another super tight set with a nasty service ace, 25-22.
The fourth set mirrored the night’s back-and-forth action, staying knotted up until 9-9. Then Iowa went on a match-shifting, multi-point run. Hitting percentages were insane for both teams, with Maryland clocking in at .450 and Iowa at .353, meaning both offenses were executing cleanly. Even trailing 24-17, Maryland absolutely refused to fold, saving multiple set points and clawing back to 24-19 before Iowa finally landed an emphatic kill to force a deciding fifth set. Hughes, ever the coach, was proud of his squad’s grit, saying, “I was more proud that even though we got kind of smoked in those two sets, you know, this group is really young and super resilient, and I watched them grow here in a tough environment,good environment for us to be home, but tough situation.” The high-stakes fifth set started in another tight battle, with every single point counting, and Maryland fell into a quick two-point… but we already know how Brass closed it out! This team’s got something special brewing with these young players. You gotta wonder what they’ll bring to the court next time out after a win like this.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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