Oct 21, 2002
Volleyball rebounds by topping Wolfpack
By Scott Clipp
Staff writer

The Terrapin volleyball team split its home set this past weekend, falling to North Carolina on Friday but rebounding to down N.C. State the following evening.

Saturday night the Terps bounced back from a loss to the Tar Heels to make short work of an N.C. State squad that is still in search of its first conference win.

Senior outside hitter Carey Brennan paved the way for the Terps, finishing with 16 kills. Junior outside hitters Lynnsy Jones and Sarah Treadwell also found themselves in double figures, as they recorded 12 and 13 kills, respectively. Jones also added 10 digs in the Terps' lopsided 30-25, 30-15, 30-22 victory over the Wolfpack in front of 384 at Ritchie Coliseum.

The Terps took control from the outset, jumping ahead of N.C. State 7-1 in the opening frame. However, the Wolfpack did manage to put up a fight in game one, cutting a 25-15 Terp lead to 28-25. A Davey ace squelched the Wolfpack run and the Terps went on to prevail in game one.

The Terps (14-8, 3-5 ACC) never let N.C State get close in the following game, holding leads of 18-9 and 28-13 before closing out the second game 30-15.

The Wolfpack (3-22, 0-7 ACC) held one of its only four leads of the night on the first serve of the third game. The Terps held only a small lead early in the third game, until freshman Stephanie Doiron delivered an ace to put the Terps up 15-11. From that point the Terps surged ahead to a 27-18 advantage and never looked back, en route to their 14th win of the season.

"Overall tonight we passed really well," said Coach Janice Kruger. "We played pretty persistent defense, and we didn't have a lot of unforced errors like we did last night [against North Carolina]."

In the Terps' match against the 11th-ranked Tar Heels, the team was overmatched by an aggressive North Carolina offense led by All-ACC performer Laura Greene.

Greene tallied a match-high 20 kills and freshman Molly Pyles added 12 while hitting .344 to lead the Tar Heels in a four-game victory, 30-24, 30-26, 25-30, 30-20.

Outside hitters Jen Dewalt and Jones both registered 16 kills for the Terps as setter Lindsay Davey gathered 58 assists in the Terps' second consecutive conference loss.

Kruger hopes the victory over the Wolfpack will serve as a spring board for the Terps to get back in the ACC race.

"Our goal here was to finish up the first round of ACC play with a win and get ready to start the second round," said Kruger. "We hope to use this momentum going into the second half, and we are pretty healthy at this point in time, so we should be looking good for the future."