Junior Nicole Alford was coming off the best season of any Maryland volleyball setter since Remy McBain in 2011, recording 1,117 assists and 9.80 assists per set in 2018.
She was poised to improve on that, until a foot injury during the preseason forced her to miss the first nine matches of the 2019 season, causing a big blow to the program.
Alford’s injury was a just a glimpse into the struggles Maryland dealt this year, as several key players missed chunks of game time.
“It was really disappointing,” Alford told Testudo Times. “We felt like it was going to be a really good year for us.