Syracuse fans clapped in approval for Amber Witherspoon as the Orange pushed back in set two of a four-set loss to Colgate Sunday afternoon. She had just blocked another spike, and the team pulled within two, 14-12. It was a great play to just about everyone but SU head coach Leonid Yelin.

For Yelin, there’s a steep learning curve with this team, and his expectations have been high coming off a year SU pushed to the brink of its first NCAA tournament. He immediately pulled Witherspoon, made some arm motions along the sideline regarding her block attempt, and ushered her along.

“I was basically teaching us how to pick direction, especially when it’s a quick attack in the middle, with everything happening so fast; you cannot go up, see, and act … you have to jump and go across,” Yelin said. “She understood this perfectly but it takes time for them to actually do it quick enough.”

In two straight games, the Orange has yet to turn understanding into execution. Aside from blocking, Syracuse didn’t generate enough offense against Colgate (1-1) and Connecticut. SU (0-2) lost all three sets fewer than three points on Friday against Connecticut and failed to come from behind on Sunday vs. Colgate at the Women’s Building, loosing 3-1.

Part of SU’s struggle is where the offense is coming from — the defensive side. Syracuse blocked 13 shots once again, thanks in large part to the efforts of Witherspoon (six), Mackenzie Weaver (four), and Santita Ebangwese (three). Those boosted momentum and teammates crowded them after each one to cheer. But they weren’t a consistent source of offense.

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Yelin pointed to Syracuse’s failure to set up points for themselves in a more traditional fashion, a leading force in their 2015 success.

Reminiscing, he recalled that “last year we had four seniors and they knew exactly … when and to who to go in this moment.

“It’s very important, like we say you have to be at the right time in the right place,” Yelin said. “But this is experience just to know especially in the current situation to stay calm and know not follow just emotion but what you have to do.”

Jalissa Trotter replaced Annie Bozzo at setter in the starting lineup, the only change from Friday, as an emphasis on offensive creation. Trotter would lead SU with 45 assists, helping top scorers Weaver (20.5) and Anastasiya Gorelina (15) but still wasn’t enough to beat the Raiders. Trotter has stepped into a role vacated by last year’s seniors, but Yelin also said the Orange lost its momentum when she failed to pick the right person.

Bodies have hit the floor, points have been scored in midgame action, but when push comes to shove late in sets, Trotter and the team all know they need more heading to Nebraska next weekend.

Published on August 28, 2016 at 8:20 pm

Contact Bobby: rpmannin@syr.edu