As Syracuse heads into its last tournament before Atlantic Coast Conference play begins, the Orange has newfound confidence after three straight set victories this weekend.

Several of the veterans believe their wins from this weekend will be important, especially for the younger players, when SU (4-5) faces No. 21 Purdue, (6-2) Florida International (5-4) and Northern Kentucky (4-6) in the Purdue Active Ankle Challenge in West Lafayette, Ind. By playing lesser competition than it did the first two weekends of the season, Syracuse learned that it doesn’t need to be afraid of making errors and should always play confidently.

“Last weekend was great for us in that sense,” said redshirt junior Lindsay McCabe, who broke into the top 10 in total blocks and block assists in school history this past weekend. “Hopefully some of the younger players got that win under their belt and now not as much fear in the games for sure.”

In the Orange’s dominant performance in the Candlewood Suites Challenge this past weekend, Syracuse defeated three teams that head coach Leonid Yelin admits the team knew it would probably beat. The teams SU dominated — Saint Peter’s, Delaware State and Chicago State — had just one combined win in 18 matches heading into that tournament.

This, Yelin said, gave the players the ability to play much more fearlessly than they had been playing, as they knew they could make mistakes.

His captain, Nicolette Serratore, agrees that the mentality that they could make mistakes and play freer was a big learning lesson for the team. She hopes they can carry this lesson with them when they go on the road this weekend.

“I think you can’t be scared to make mistakes,” Serratore said. “You have to take risks to get those big points. Now that we’ve played those weaker teams and we know that it’s OK to risk it sometimes if you’re going for the big win then that’s all right.”

Yelin wants to see his team carry that courageous mentality into this weekend. Both Florida International and Northern Kentucky hover around .500, while Purdue is ranked in the Top 25 and has only lost twice this year.

Sophomore Gosia Wlaszczuk believes that no matter the level of competition the Orange beat this past weekend, it was vital for SU as a young team to get that confidence. She said that the team will be able to take its newfound sureness on the road with it to Purdue.

“It just built our confidence for sure,” Wlaszczuk said. “Even though the teams which we were playing was ranked really, really low, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we just had three wins in a row, a really great three wins and now I feel like we will just be able to go and continue winning.”

For many of the players, this past weekend was the first real weekend of success for the team, as the Orange boasts a very young roster.

Wlaszczuk talked about how in one and a half years at the program, she and her teammates have not really been able to experience winning, bringing the mood of the team down and draining its confidence.

These wins last weekend, she believes, have salvaged Syracuse’s faith in itself.

“After last season we lost almost every game so my confidence was like I couldn’t even find it,” Wlaszczuk said, “I was afraid I left it in Poland.

“I’m telling you I need this win so much to like come back in my brain. To come back and feel that I’m a good player that my team is good players, that we can do this.”

Published on September 19, 2013 at 12:26 am

Contact Ryan: rlraigro@syr.edu