Over the last few weeks, Maryland volleyball’s offense has grown increasingly reliant on outside hitter Erika Pritchard.

Much of Pritchard’s success has come from the effective passing of setter Nicole Alford. Pritchard leads the team with 366 kills while Alford leads the team with 850 assists.

Pritchard and Alford’s connection is hardly surprising, considering the duo were teammates in high school on the Metro Volleyball Club in Washington, D.C.

“We’re really familiar with each other and we trust each other a lot,” Pritchard said. “And our connection will only continue to grow.”

[Read more: Blocks and digs helped Maryland volleyball past Iowa in straight sets]

Alford and Pritchard played together for four years as club teammates before splitting up last year as Pritchard came to Maryland and Alford went to Georgia Tech.

But Alford transferred to the Terps this year, and Pritchard and Alford have become the most potent offensive combination.

“We every single day learn to trust each other more,” Alford said. “It takes a little pressure off of me knowing that I can give her a ball and it doesn’t have to be perfect because I know she’s going to do something great with it.”

[Read more: Erika Pritchard’s 20 kills power Maryland volleyball past Iowa, 3-0]

While Alford had experience with Pritchard entering the season, she was not familiar with play in the Big Ten.

However, Alford had help in her transition, as the Terps returned three setters from 2017’s roster, including last year’s primary setter Samantha Snyder, who Alford said was instrumental to her smooth transition to Maryland.

“It’s nice to have someone who has been in the Big Ten conference and setting for this team and knows the hitters and our system,” Alford said. “She and the other setters were really helpful to me coming in.”

Pritchard has taken on a bigger role in the Terps offense recently and leads the team with 508 attacks in Big Ten play.

Coach Adam Hughes has been working in his gameplans to find a balance between spreading the ball around and feeding Pritchard, the team’s best hitter. Hughes said that Pritchard’s success despite the heavy load she carries has been due to good decision making on the court.

“She’s had to carry a fair amount of weight for us and she’s embraced that role over the last couple weeks,” Hughes said. “I think she’s getting better at being more comfortable in that situation and technically or tactically I think she’s managing the game a lot better. For us that’s part of coaching, and part of Nicole’s job is to see what they’re giving us and taking advantage,”

While the pair have struggled in brief stretches this season, they have been fairly consistent, a success Pritchard credits to the communication between them.

“If we’re not comfortable or not in a rhythm,” Pritchard said, “we know that and we can go from there and learn from each other.”