The Pavilion crowd had barely settled when Maryland found itself staring at a 7-3 deficit in the opening set. Seton Hall, riding the energy of a hard-fought win against Western Carolina, had come out swinging. The Terps needed a spark, and it arrived from the service line in the form of freshman Ava Brown, whose quick two-point spurt began to close the gap.
Graduate student Haley Melby followed with a serve that created chaos in the Seton Hall reception, leading to a miscommunication at the net and a subtle Maryland tap that the Pirates failed to recover. Melby then delivered a service ace to tie the score at eight, and the momentum shifted decisively. Maryland surged ahead on a 6-0 scoring run, forcing Seton Hall to call a timeout.
The Pirates refused to fold quietly. Freshman outside hitter Samantha Shelton challenged Maryland's streak with a powerful angled kill, and a subsequent service error from the Terps scattered their rhythm. But a key kill from Duru Gökçen, set up by a clever misdirection play, pushed Maryland ahead 14-11. Seton Hall responded, and Maryland head coach Adam Hughes challenged a called ace from the Pirates. The Terps lost the challenge, cutting their lead to 14-13.
Maryland powered ahead to set point at 24-19. A long serve gave the Pirates a point and sparked a brief run, but a final Seton Hall service error handed Maryland the 25-21 first-set victory.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with Maryland taking an early 2-1 lead behind a commanding presence at the net. Brown delivered a huge block to keep the Terps in control as both teams struggled with service errors, totaling 12 combined up to that point. Sophomore setter Sara Toth landed a key service ace to ignite a 3-0 scoring run and extend the lead to 11-5.
Back-to-back kills from Melby and Eva Rohrbach pushed the lead back to six. Seton Hall responded with a kill off Brown's serve, but Melby shut down the Pirates' momentum with a hammer kill to bring up set point at 24-18. She sealed the set victory with her ninth kill of the match, putting an exclamation point on a performance that backed up her "Terp of the Week" title.
The third set opened as a tighter battle, with Seton Hall splitting the opening six points and finding a better rhythm. But Maryland refused to let the Pirates dictate the pace, quickly pushing the lead to 8-5. Shelton attempted another attack, only to be turned away at the net by a solid block from Brown. Brown then teamed up with Gökçen for another dominant block, extending the score to 12-6.
Capitalizing on Seton Hall's diminishing drive, a Maryland service ace sparked an explosive 7-0 run for the Terps. Match point came and went with a final, resounding kill from freshman Marlee Sivak, sealing the 25-10 set victory and completing the dominant straight-set sweep.
The match showcased a Maryland squad that has now won four straight. Brown was a game-changer at the net, delivering critical blocks and pairing with Gökçen to shut down Seton Hall's outside hitters in sets two and three. Melby set the tone throughout, sparking the first-set comeback with her service ace and anchoring the attack with her nine kills.
Maryland will return to the Pavilion tomorrow to face the Princeton Tigers, looking to keep their hot streak alive.
According to Yahoo Sports.