Maryland women’s volleyball gambled last season, finishing 15th in the Big Ten Conference with a 14-17 overall record.
“We rolled the dice with those guys,” head coach Adam Hughes said Monday in Chicago at Big Ten Media Days.
The Terrapins graduated eight players this offseason, five super seniors and three regular seniors, including hitters Sam Csire and Samantha Schnitta. Hughes explained the program hoped to capitalize on that 2024 graduating class, who led Maryland to a 17-15 finish in 2023, a 16-16 finish in 2022 and a 19-13 finish in 2021.
“We have a great balance of what the program and what the team looks like right now,” Hughes said. “Eva [Rohrbach] is one of our vets. She's been with us. She's been committed to us for a long time. She's had two good years and we're hoping she can take a huge step this year and have a great season.”
Hughes enters his eighth year as head coach this season, and has high hopes for his squad.
“Last year wasn't a good year for us, and we're trying to be resilient. But I think the staff and the program as a whole did a really good job of making sure we found the right pieces, the things that we needed to replace in this off-season,” Hughes said. “We're not trying to buy time, but just be young. We wanted to have a chance to be good this year, and I feel like we've done a really good job bringing in not just good players, but good people. And it's been a good spring for us.”
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The Terrapins will open their season with an Aug. 24 exhibition match against Georgetown.