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The pressure was mounting on Syracuse during the waning stages of the fourth set against Cornell. The score was 24-21 in favor of SU, who won its first two sets before losing the third.

Off the opposing serve, Cherlin Antonio digged the ball over to her teammate, Mira Ledermueller. Ledermueller then set the ball up into the air. After a few steps, Antonio leapt and made contact with the ball for a huge spike. The hit sent the ball hard toward the back line of the Big Red defense, which was too slow to react.

Syracuse (1-6, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) took down Cornell (1-3, 0-0 Ivy League) 3-1, ending its six-game losing streak. In the first set, Syracuse staved off another slow start and opened a quick lead off an Antonio kill and two errors by Cornell. In almost every set that the Orange have played this season, they had to claw their way out of early deficits. Getting off to a solid start was exactly what SU needed to win.

Unforced errors by the Orange helped the Big Red keep the score close for a while. But after a service and attack error by Cornell’s Eliza Konvicka and Camryn Carlo, respectively, Zharia Harris-Waddy capitalized with back-to-back service aces. Those two scores off serves were a part of the freshmen’s career-high six aces. SU led 10-5 off that run.

Harris-Waddy aced to spark a 5-1 run by the Orange. That stretch gave SU a nine-point lead, its highest of the night and the season. Cornell wasn’t ready to surrender the set just yet, however. The Big Red mounted a 6-1 run, led by Nicole Mallus, who recorded three of her eight kills during that span. But Cornell only delayed the inevitable. Antonio scored two of the last three points for Syracuse to not only win the first set of the match 25-18, but also to win the first set of the season for the squad.

To begin the second set, SU relied on Antonio. The outside hitter recorded a career-high 18 kills during the match, which included nine in the first set alone. The two teams traded blows early on but Cornell jumped out to an early 7-5 lead behind the scoring of Konvicka. The sophomore ended the contest with nine kills, a team-high on the night.

Syracuse then went on a 13-3 run, which included multiple blocks by Lauren McCabe to force miscues by the opposition. That stretch put Syracuse firmly in the driver’s seat with an 18-10 lead.

The Big Red attempted to make a comeback by capitalizing on a few errors by the Orange. But Syracuse’s lead was too large to overcome. Antonio, who’s becoming the de-facto closer for the squad, jumped up and smashed the ball into a dead zone in the Cornell defense. SU won its second set of the contest, 25-19.

Looking to feed off her dominant outing so far, Antonio was the primary offensive weapon for the Orange entering the third set. On Antonio’s first two kill attempts in the set, she was met by a wall of defenders. After a kill and another blocked attempt, Cornell quickly established a 4-0 lead. One forced attack error and five kills later, the Big Red found themselves up big, leading 10-0.

Syracuse eventually managed to get on the board due to an error. That helped springboard SU into a quick 4-0 burst of its own, keeping it briefly above water. Antonio started to get going midway through the set, racking up three kills after struggling to get the ball over the Big Red wall. But the early deficit proved to be insurmountable for the Orange, as they lost their first set on the evening 25-19.

The fourth and final set of the contest saw head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam’s squad come out with a vengeance, jumping out to a quick 5-0 advantage. Cornell quickly countered with a 4-0 run to stay within shouting distance. The squads began to trade scores for a stretch.

SU was the first to break out that cycle, going on another 5-0 run to take a 14-8 lead. Setting up many of those scores was Ledermueller, who recorded a career-high 36 assists.

Cornell continued to put pressure on Syracuse, scoring in bunches. A late four-point burst by the Big Red made the score 19-15. Antonio used her powerful strike ability to end an opposing run. Cornell made one last push but Antonio closed it out with one final kill.

Published on September 7, 2023 at 12:16 am