Syracuse Volleyball Drops Hard-Fought Battle at Clemson

By Zac Ventola | @ZacVentola

Clemson, SC – Syracuse volleyball (5-12, 0-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) has been swept yet again. The ‘Cuse dropped its eighth battle of conference play to Clemson (8-12, 2-6 ACC). Although SU had its fair share of impressive plays, the team was ultimately too inconsistent to pull off the win.

Although the Orange have a 13-8 advantage all-time against the Tigers, Syracuse has dropped the two teams’ past five matches. 

Contrary to most of its prior ACC games this season, SU started the match slow before gaining momentum throughout the remainder of the afternoon.

The Orange scored the first point of the day, but did not take a lead for the remainder of the first set. Clemson followed up Syracuse’s first point by scoring seven of the next eight. The Orange clawed back to cut the Tigers’ lead to three, but Clemson ended the set with seven of the final eight points. The ‘Cuse dropped the first set, 25-16.

At first, it appeared the second frame may have been a rare ACC set-win for SU. The Orange led 15-8 at the media timeout. However, that margin quickly disappeared. After Syracuse led 20-15, Clemson scored six points in a row to take the lead. The Orange later fought back with three points in a row, but that was followed by the Tigers doing the same. In an extended set, Clemson won 26-24.

The final set of the afternoon also went into extra points, but was substantially longer. After trailing 20-16, SU fought back with three consecutive scores to cut the deficit to one. That was the final three-point run of the afternoon, as both teams went punch-for-punch throughout the remainder of the set, 

The third set tallied 16 total ties and six lead changes. Ultimately, after being tied at 33 points apiece, Clemson got a pair of kills to pull off the sweep. The Tigers won the final set, 35-33.

Despite plenty of SU mistakes, the ‘Cuse did shine on the block. The Orange unblocked the Tigers 6-3. However, that minor advantage was not enough to outweigh Clemson’s 54 kills.

The ‘Cuse is yet to win its first match of ACC play. SU’s next opportunity to do so comes Sunday at 6:00 p.m. against Virginia (6-11, 2-6 ACC).

For coverage of the Orange vs. Cavaliers and the remainder of Syracuse volleyball’s season, follow @ZacVentola and @CitrusTVSports on X.