Last Saturday, Syracuse took the opening two sets against then No. 10 USC only to lose in five sets. Today, SU barely avoided the same fate.

After winning the first two sets easily, Syracuse (3-3) dropped the third and fourth to Wyoming (8-3) at the Iowa State Tournament in Ames, Iowa. But, instead of faltering in the fifth, SU rebounded and won the match 3-2.

Freshman Polina Shemanova once again dominated the opposition. She tallied 20 kills, 10 digs and 10 total blocks. Sophomore Ella Saada also had 16 kills and nine digs. Freshman Elena Karakasi tallied 39 assists and four kills on four attacks.

Syracuse lost the opening two points of the first set before knocking off eight of the next nine points. On that run, Shemanova and senior Mariia Levanova combined for five of SU’s seven first-set kills. After taking the early five-point lead, SU cruised to take the first set 25-18.

The second set was more contested as neither team led by more than three points. Late in the set, Syracuse lead by a point, 18-17, after a kill by Shemanova. The very next point, senior Santita Ebangwese missed on her serve, tying the score back up. The Orange won the ensuing point after a kill by Saada, but SU committed another service error on the next point because Karakasi couldn’t land her serve into the court. Syracuse won the second set, but it committed five service errors in the process.

The Orange had 14 service errors and only five aces in all five sets. This follows a trend for the Orange. Coming into this matchup, SU has served 21 more errors than aces. SU has recognized this as a weakness since the summer, but it still hasn’t improved.

“For volleyball, serving is the one thing where we know we have to execute well,” junior Aliah Bowllan said last Tuesday. “It’s the one part of the game that we do have control of.”

Bowllan played in only one set today after appearing in each of the prior 20. Junior Kendra Lukacs filled her role on defense by totaling 15 digs.

Down by four points late in the third set, 22-18, head coach Leonid Yelin called a timeout. He sparked a fire under his team. SU won the next four points and nine of the next 11. Syracuse had a match point at 25-24, but a Wyoming kill from Jackie McBride knotted up the score. Wyoming would eventually take the third set 31-29.

The Cowgirls exploited on that momentum in the fourth set. Wyoming jumped out to a three-point lead, 4-1. SU couldn’t close within two points as Wyoming took the fourth set 25-18.

SU had ten errors to nine kills in the fourth set, a hitting percentage of -0.026 percent.

Yet, the Orange rallied in the fifth. Syracuse lost the first two points but took the next four to take a 4-2 lead. The rest of the set was even, as neither team led by more than two points. With the final set tied at 13, Shemanova blocked a Wyoming kill attempt to give SU a match point. This time, Ebangwese capitalized. She tallied her 11th kill to give Syracuse a 15-13 victory in the final set of the match.

Syracuse will be in action tomorrow in the Iowa State Tournament against Iowa at 8 p.m.

Published on September 14, 2018 at 7:34 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman