Syracuse Dominates One Volleyball in Preseason Tune-Up

By Justin Paura

Volleyball Beat Reporter

SYRACUSE, NY — Syracuse hosted One Volleyball club, which is a professional league out of Toronto, in an exhibition Saturday evening and did not lose one set. The two squads played four sets, all of them went to the Orange with scores on 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-12.

SU handled One Volleyball easily, getting solid production from their newcomers. Freshman Polina Shemanova started the exhibition and impacted the game up top and in the back, earning kills all over the court throughout the tune-up. Backup freshman setter Elena Karakasi replaced the seasoned Jalissa Trotter towards the end of the exhibition and made few mistakes while setting up her teammates.

The freshmen turned a lot of heads, but the upperclassmen also played well. Seniors Amber Witherspoon and Preseason All-ACC team member Santita Ebangwese followed Shemanova in the team leaderboard for kills. Junior libero Aliah Bowllan seemed to be in midseason form, digging multiple hard hits from the One Volleyball side.

While the exhibition is a reason for optimism, there appears to be more work to be done before the games start to count. Head Coach Leonid Yelin did not seem happy with the number of missed opportunities and balls that hit the ground due to miscommunications.

The Orange opens its season with the UCONN Invitational Tournament next weekend. Game one of that tournament for Syracuse is Friday at 5 p.m. against New Hampshire.

@jpaura24 | jpaura@syr.edu