The University of Miami women’s volleyball team was swept by Maryland in the Knights Sports Complex Friday night. They then rebounded and swept the Boston College Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
The Canes finished the weekend with a 12-15 record overall and 6-12 in conference play.
UM is now ninth in the ACC standings with four regular season games remaining.
In Friday night’s loss to Maryland, freshman Katie Gallagher became the first Hurricane freshman and the third player in school history to record 1,000 assists in a season. She reached the 1,000 assists mark during the first game with her tenth assist of the night.
“It’s a great honor for Katie,” Coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “We hope to see a lot more of the same from her in the future. It was definitely a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy night.”
Gallagher finished with 39 assists, four kills, seven digs and an ace.
Sophomore Genny Mayhew led the team with 13 kills, while junior Bridget Bomhack ended the night with nine. Senior Ciara Michel and freshman Maria Andersson each chipped in with seven.
Maryland proved to be the better team as they easily won 30-25, 30-23 and 30-27.
The Hurricanes have now lost five of their last six matches against Maryland.
The key to the match was at the front court. Maryland outperformed Miami in blocks with nine-and-a-half total team blocks to two.
Coming into Sunday’s matinee match against Boston College, Miami had lost 11 of 14 of their matches this season.
After being down 7-1 early in game one, Miami rallied together and never looked back, sweeping the Eagles 30-21, 30-26 and 30-24.
“We were clicking on all cylinders,” Lantagne Welch said. “We hit over .300, which is excellent for us, and we served really tough too to take them out of their rhythm.”
Miami had 11 total service aces compared to Boston College’s four.
Gallagher continued to impress and finished with a match-high 47 assists. Mayhew continued her strong play as of late and recorded a match-high 19 kills while adding four digs.
“I can’t say enough about how Genny has learned and grown as a hitter this year,” Lantagne Welch said. “She is doing a phenomenal job carrying the offensive load for us.”
Andersson finished with a double-double, recording 10 kills and 14 digs. Bomhack and sophomore Cassie Loessberg each finished with nine digs.
Loessberg needs just eight more digs this season to become UM’s all-time leader of digs in a season. She is currently second behind Jamie Grass’s record total of 499, set in 2002.
The Canes will hit the road this weekend to play Clemson and Georgia Tech, the number one and three teams in the ACC respectively.
Justin Antweil may be contacted at j.antweil@umiami.edu.