After suffering its first loss since Aug. 31, Maryland volleyball looked to rebound and get back in the win-column. But against Iowa Saturday evening, the Terps fell in their second consecutive five-setter.

“We just continue to find ways not to be able to capitalize in fifth games,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “As the leader of the program, I’ve got to find some solutions. Got to find ways to capitalize on these opportunities.”

Just like she’s done all season, pin hitter Samantha Schnitta helped Maryland (9-4) get off to an early 6-3 lead. She recorded a service ace, while outside hitters Sydney Bryant and Sam Csire each added a kill.

Iowa (8-6) cut the lead to one after a service ace from outside hitter Michelle Urquhart before another Csire kill extended the Terps’ lead to three.

Hawkeyes’ middle hitter Hannah Whittingstall gave her team some momentum with a kill, knotting the score at nine. Then, two kills and a service ace from Iowa’s outside hitter Malu Garcia put the Hawkeyes ahead by three.

Csire’s third kill of the set was followed up by Schnitta and middle blocker Ellie Watson teaming up for a block, leveling the score at 18. Iowa scored two consecutive points after its timeout, but a kill from middle blocker Eva Rohrbach and service ace from Schnitta tied the score at 22.

Two kills from Bryant gave Maryland a set point, but the Hawkeyes responded with two points of their own, putting the score at 25-24. Iowa scored the last two points of the set, as the Terps fell, 27-25. Bryant recorded a set-high seven kills for Maryland.

In the second set, the score was knotted at two apiece before Maryland scored seven straight points to get out to a much-needed lead. Defensive specialist Ally Williams had two service aces, while Rohrbach added two total blocks.

Down 10-3, Iowa mustered a comeback with back-to-back service aces from outside hitter Alyssa Worden, cutting the Terps’ lead to one. Schnitta stopped the bleeding with two kills from the back row, extending Maryland’s lead to two. Back-to-back kills from Bryant put the score at 16-13.

Schnitta’s third service ace of the set extended the Terps’ lead to six. Freshman pin hitter Katherine Scherer added a kill late in the set to keep Maryland up six before the Hawkeyes teamed up for two blocks. An Iowa serve sailed long, giving the Terps set point. Defensive specialist Jonna Spohn then closed out a 25-21 set victory for Maryland with a service ace.

In the third set, the Terps got off to 8-4 lead by way of two service aces from Schnitta, but the Hawkeyes responded back with five consecutive points. An attack from Bryant sailed long, extending the Iowa lead to three, before Bryant responded back with a kill.

Back-to-back kills from Rohrbach helped knot the score at 16, before Hawkeyes’ outside hitter Gabby Deery put her team in front with three kills. Bryant’s 15th and 16th kills of the match soon leveled the score at 21. Consecutive blocks from Iowa gave them a set point before Deery closed out the set, as the Terps fell, 25-23.

“We call it red zone, up or down by one,” Hughes said. “That’s our achilles heel right now. We’re able to get on runs, but once we find ourselves late in games, we seem to lose a little bit of execution.”

Maryland fell behind 5-1 early in the fourth set after two kills from Urquhart. Two kills from Schnitta and one from Csire cut Iowa’s lead to one, before Deery stopped the Terps’ momentum. Consecutive blocks from Maryland leveled the score at 11.

Trailing 14-12, Bryant added another kill before a joint-block from Dowler and Rohrbach tied the score. A kill and service ace from Urquhart put her team back up two. A big dig from Iowa’s libero Joy Galles set up a kill from Deery before Bryant racked up her 21st kill of the match.

A kill from Schnitta sparked a late-run for the Terps, as they earned a 23-20 lead. Schnitta gave Maryland a set point with a service ace, but Iowa didn’t go away, notching three consecutive points. Ultimately, though, Rohrbach finished a 25-23 set win for the Terps with a kill.

Defense was on display early in the fifth set as Spohn saved two points, helping Maryland get out to a lead. Schnitta forced a Hawkeyes’ timeout with her seventh service ace of the match before Rohrbach added a service ace, giving the Terps the lead.

Schnitta kept Maryland in the fifth set with three late kills before Bryant and Rohrbach each added a kill, pushing the Terps ahead by two. Iowa responded with four points of its own, setting up match point. Urquhart closed it out for the Hawkeyes, 15-13, as Maryland fell to 0-2 in Big Ten play.

Three things to know

1. Career-high in kills from Bryant. After only tallying seven kills in Thursday’s match, Bryant got hot early en route to 24 kills. Her career-high coming into the match was 18.

“I think what she’s learning is that to solidify this role that she has as a consistent starter, she’s going to have the ups and downs,” Hughes said. “I told her in the locker room that she gave us a shot, it’s something that she can bank on.”

2. Consecutive home losses. Maryland headed into its first two matches of Big Ten play searching for two wins. Instead, the Terps walked away with two five-set losses. Maryland will next play on the road against No. 4 Penn State.

3. Seven blocks from Rohrbach. With middle blocker Anastasia Russ sidelined due to injury, Rohrbach garnered all the attention at the net. She didn’t disappoint, posting seven blocks in the loss.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Here’s everything Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti had to say during his postgame press conference after the Hoosiers defeated Maryland 42-28 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Indiana is 5-0 for the first time since 1967 and the Hoosiers are 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2020.

Opening statement …

Cignetti: Okay, good win. Far from perfect, trust me. 4-0 in the turnover ratio against us, had not turned it over going into the game one time and still won by two scores. But defense really responded to every one of those turnovers.

There’s a lot of corrections to make, but it was a good effort, a gutty effort.

You could feel the fans out there. I’m glad that they keep improving in the attendance area. I thought that was a good turnout, and good is the enemy of great, so let’s have a great turnout. Let’s sell it out next week or next time we’re at home and figure out how to make it even louder because that’s what we want to do; we want to be the best in everything we do.

Even when we’re good, even when we perform good, we’re not satisfied. But it was a good turnout.

We’re 5-0. But this isn’t the end for us. I’m proud of the team and everything they’ve accomplished.

I felt like we’ve made good progress in the off-season, in the winter, spring, summer, but we had to put it on film. We can play better than we played today.

On responding to adversity …

Cignetti: Yeah, there were a lot of good responses in that game. The defense responded to offensive turnovers. The offense responded to touchdowns given up by the defense. We responded more than they did.

So there was really a lot that went on in that game. There’s no doubt about it. Winning is good because it deepens belief in confidence and success, which leads to confidence and belief, which leads to success. You’ve still got to put the work in, but strengthens that confidence and belief.

On Indiana’s energy throughout the game …

Cignetti: Well, that’s us. We want to play every play like it’s 0-0. Never too high, never too low. Something bad happens, okay, we’re going to play this play. You get 11 guys playing that way consistently, then you’ve got a chance.

On the defensive line and the pressure it applied …

Cignetti: Yeah, I don’t know how many sacks we had total. Five? Okay. He seemed like he was on the ground on awful lot early in the game, which is what we wanted to do.

We just have to – when we have a chance to kind of go for the jugular, we’ve got to get a little better at that. But they’ve got some playmakers. They’ve got some guys that get on top of you. They got us in a defense we didn’t want to be in on the long run.

But that’s where it all starts, up front. We’re experienced up front. We think it’s one of our strengths, and it was definitely one of the areas that they weren’t feeling too great about coming into the game, and we needed a big win there, and I think we got it.

On getting a late-game blocked punt …

Cignetti: Yeah, that was awesome. I have no idea what happened. I was taking my headset off and giving it to somebody behind me and I completely missed it. I just wish we would have picked it up and scored.

On limiting the effectiveness of receiver Tai Felton …

Cignetti: Well, I think he went out, didn’t he? And didn’t return, right? It’s hard for him to have a big day when he’s not on the field.

Follow-up question noting that Felton went out in the third quarter …

Cignetti: What did he have? He had five for 38, yeah. But Hemby made some.

We did a pretty good job, and it started up front with the pressure. They got on top of us a couple times, though.

On how Kurtis Rourke responded to his own adversity …

Cignetti: Yeah, I mean, he responded like I kind of felt like he would. I didn’t think he’d be flustered by the two interceptions, and he wasn’t.

When we had our one-on-one opportunities, we were winning, and we played well when we played with tempo, the two-minute drive and some of the other times. He’s a grizzly old vet. He’s got to hold on to that ball a little better in the pocket when he runs it.

On wide receivers Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt …

Cignetti: Yeah. They were winning their one-on-ones when it was press coverage, and we were getting them the ball, and I was glad to see Donaven won his one-on-one in the red area. That was a play we were hoping to be able to get called against zero blitz coverage.

We felt like that was a match-up that was in our favor going into the game, and it turned out to be that way.

On the impact of the fans …

Cignetti: Oh, it’s extremely valuable. Players feed off of that energy. Look, it’s all about energy, right? You’ve got to have energy to do anything, and the fans are supplying the energy and the players are feeding off of that energy.

I don’t know how many points it’s worth, but it’s really important, and I think we got everything moving in the right direction here.

On what the Hoosiers learned about themselves …

Cignetti: Well, I think you learn about your team every week. You play 12 regular season games, you learn about them in the off week, too. I thought this was a good challenge for us, and we outlasted them. We did a lot of good things. But there’s a lot of things we can do better.

On a “new” Indiana this season …

Cignetti: Well, I don’t know what the old Indiana was other than what I watched on tape or maybe looked in a record book.

We are what we are, and we have a blueprint and a plan and a philosophy how to play the game. It’s all about people and processes. I think we’ve got a chance to be a good football team. Todd Blackledge said at the end of the UCLA game that this is a good football team, Indiana. You’ve got to prove it every day, every play.

On tight end Zach Horton and his impact …

Cignetti: Yeah, well, I’m glad other coaches point that out, too, when they watch us on tape or scout us, how valuable he is. It’s not all about his touches. He does a lot of great things for us offensively. He’s really a blood-and-guts hard-nosed tough guy with talent.

He’s a tremendous football player.

On the versatility of the running game …

Cignetti: We play those three backs every game, and they’ve been really consistent. If we didn’t turn it over four times, maybe we would have had 200.