Poor Weekend Drops SU Volleyball to 7-19

By Chris Venzon

For the second time in three days, the Syracuse Volleyball team lost a match 3-1.

On Sunday, Florida State waltzed into the Women’s Building and demoralized the young SU team in the second frame. The 25-9 second set loss was the largest margin of defeat to the Orange all season. At one point, Syracuse was down 20 to 6. After the match, freshman Mackenzie Weaver’s voice was tinged with disgust as she recalled her team’s performance.

“We needed to have some pride in ourselves,” she said. “How we played in the second set was not okay. That’s not the type of volleyball we play. We don’t work so hard every day in the gym to play like that. It’s not fun.  You’re on your home court and you get beat 25-9, that should hurt your pride a little bit.”

Head coach Leonid Yelin’s encouraged his team to rebound quickly after the second set, and it worked.

“I told them, ‘You cannot get disappointed, the game’s not over.’ This is one of the many things we have to learn, and we’re still working on it.”

Four of Weaver’s team-high 17 kills helped recapture the third set. The Orange jumped out to a 10 point lead early on, but the Seminoles stormed back to make it close at the end. An FSU error gave ‘Cuse the 26-24 victory to stay alive in the match.

One of the bright spots for the Orange was Belle Sand’s defensive play. The junior libero surpassed 1,000 career digs in the match. However, as a unit, SU struggled defensively to contain FSU’s outside hitting in the fourth set, which ultimately lost them the match. Seventeen of the Seminoles 25 points in the fourth were kills.

The loss sends Syracuse to 7-19 on the season, 6-10 in ACC conference play. Their next match up against Pittsburgh is the first of Syracuse’s final two home games. That game is on Friday at 7:00 p.m.