Aug. 30, 2003

Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Strong blocking performances and a solid digging effort were not enough for Villanova as the Wildcats fell to host Maryland, 3-0, in day two of action at the Maryland Invitational. The Terps swept the 'Cats, 30-20, 30-23 and 30-15.

Jennifer Badran-Grycan led Villanova with 12 assists and 15 defensive digs, while Celine Nguyen tallied six kills to pace the attack. Kelly Ludwig and Adrian Semrau each finished with six blocks in the match.

Maryland came out strong in game one, racing to an early 6-2 advantage. Katie Lanting and Nyugen helped settle the Villanova attack and Ludwig teamed with Kerri Sullivan on a block assist to close the gap to 12-9.

The Terps' Stephanie Smith then stonewalled the Villanova offense with five blocks at the net, helping build the lead to 22-12. Megan Abbott registered consecutive kills for the Wildcats to make the score 27-17, but Lynnsy Jones answered with two of her own to wrap up game one.

Game two see-sawed back and forth with neither team opening up a lead larger than three points. With the Wildcats trailing 20-18, Megan Bye whacked two straight kills to knot the game.

Maryland's Maria DiLivio then got hot and pushed the lead back to 26-21. Villanova scored two more points on a ball handling error and a service error before DiLivio and Rachel Wagener made the final kills of the game.

In game three, Villanova jumped ahead 4-0 after kills by Nyugen and Ludwig and solid blocks by Ludwig and Semrau. Maryland fought back and led 18-11 before going on for the match win.

Villanova (0-2) wraps up tournament action this evening with a 5 p.m. match against Tennessee.