The Virginia Cavaliers, coming off two crucial wins last weekend, will square off with the Maryland Terrapins today in Memorial Gymnasium.
Maryland (17-4, 6-1 ACC) comes into town on a four-game tear, sporting the second-best ACC record behind Georgia Tech. Much like the Cavaliers (19-4, 3-4 ACC), Maryland, which had not had a winning record in the ACC for five years, is seemingly in the midst of a renewal.
A large reason for Maryland's success has been the contributions of Terrapin junior setter Aimee Huddleston, who was named ACC Player of the Week after leading her team to three straight ACC victories with 119 assists.
"I'm excited to see their setter play," Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "I've heard she plays really, really well and I'm looking forward to seeing her."
Maryland's sophomore middle blocker Rachel Wagener is another pride of this Terrapin squad. She leads the nation with 1.78 blocks per game. But, the Terrapins have strong players at all positions, leaving few holes to be exploited by the Cavaliers.
"Maryland leads the conference in blocks, and they're one of the top teams in hitting percentage," Aldrich Shelton said. "They play a great game at net and they have a very efficient middle attack."
Facing such a strong squad, Virginia will look to bring out all the stops. But the first stop must be to get the offensive back into full swing.
"We're going to have to hit at a higher level," Aldrich Shelton said. "Our offensive has been dropping off and we need to get out hitting percentage back up."
Virginia has won their last two games over Florida State and N.C. State, possibly helping to regain some of that early season poise that lead to their record 16-game winning streak. But returning to that top level of play will prove difficult in the heart of a grueling ACC season.
"Matches in the ACC are a whole level up from what we saw in our tournament season," Virginia senior outside hitter Paige Davis said.
As always, Virginia will look for senior libero Whitney Ashcraft to anchor the squad on defense. Ashcraft had a combined 27 digs in two games last weekend. The Cavaliers also will look for Davis, who tallied 19 points in the N.C. State win, to make an impact. But overall, Aldrich Shelton is not necessarily looking for individual players to step up their game. Instead she hopes the entire team will up their level of play in order to come away with a win.
"We've been a really balanced team all year, and we need all six hitters to step up and put the ball down," Aldrich Shelton said.
One thing that affected the focus of this young team was last week's midterms. With cramming a thing of the past for now, the Cavaliers can take the court thinking about nothing but volleyball.
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