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Florida State led 14-11 in the fifth set — Seminoles fans stood up, holding one finger in the air, signaling that one more point was needed to secure the set and the match. Syracuse outside hitter Polina Shemanova launched a crosscourt kill attempt from the left side, but it landed out of bounds, ending SU’s opportunity of completing a comeback when they were down two sets to none.

Syracuse (15-9, 4-8 Atlantic Coast) fell in five sets to Florida State (16-5, 9-3 Atlantic Coast) on Sunday, losing its second straight match and its fourth straight on the road. Despite the defeat, middle blocker Marina Markova recorded a career-high 33 kills, the third-most in program history. Markova also recorded a .270 hitting percentage on 89 total attack attempts.

The Orange recorded higher numbers than the Seminoles in several categories. SU recorded 74 total kills, 97 digs, 10 blocks and a collective .260 hitting percentage, while FSU recorded 72 kills, 83 digs, 5 blocks and a .207 hitting percentage. FSU had five players who scored double-digit kills, while Markova and Shemanova were the only ones who had more than 10 kills for the Orange.

All of the sets were back and forth between the two teams. After dropping the first set, SU had the opportunity to win the second set after leading 23-21, but a 4-0 run by the Seminoles ended the set and put the Orange behind by two sets. After winning the third set, Syracuse was faced with match point trailing 24-23, and they were out of timeouts in the fourth set.

To set up a match point, Florida State blocked a SU kill attempt. Head coach Leonid Yelin, however, wanted to challenge the play. But he wasn’t challenging to overturn the call — he challenged to give his team another timeout and a chance to speak in the huddle. Since SU was successful on two previous challenges in the match, Yelin was able to use another timeout. As expected, the call was upheld, but Yelin still had the opportunity to speak to his team in a free timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Markova notched a kill to tie the set. The next two points were kills from Shemanova and Abby Casiano, who finished SU’s 3-0 run to take the fourth set, keeping SU’s comeback chances alive. In the fifth set, SU was winning 9-5 at one point, but the Seminoles won 10 of the next 12 points to win the match. The two teams will face again in Syracuse on Nov. 14.

SU finishes the back half of its four-game road trip in matchups against No. 4 Pittsburgh and Virginia. Syracuse defeated the Panthers twice last season, while its matchup against UVA was canceled last season.

Published on October 31, 2021 at 3:51 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini