Syracuse Volleyball Ends Year on Sour Note with Loss to Virginia Tech
By Ryan Croke | @ryancroke_
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse volleyball (13-17, 5-15 Atlantic Coast Conference) ended its 2025 campaign with a 3-1 loss to Virginia Tech (11-18, 3-15 ACC) on Friday.
It was another close affair between the sides, with two of the four frames going to extra points. Just like the first meeting of the conference foes, it was a 3-1 win for the road team. SU defeated VT 3-1 in Blacksburg back on Oct. 3.
A lot has changed for the Orange since then. Back in early October, they were 10-3 (2-1 ACC) at the beginning of a promising start to conference play. By contrast, Friday’s late-November clash marked an 11th straight loss to end the season.
All four sets were close. Neither side scored fewer than 20 in any frame.
Set one was a 25-22 Hokies victory in which they led nearly the entire way.
Set two was a hard-fought 26-24 Syracuse win. SU trailed 23-21 but scored five of the frame’s final six points to level the match at one set apiece.
Set three saw Virginia Tech get off to a sizable lead, holding a 19-9 advantage at one point. Syracuse did all it could to get back in it, but the deficit proved insurmountable. VT took the frame 25-20.
Set four was perhaps the closest of the day. Neither side led by more than two until a 3-0 VT run made it 18-15. Syracuse would storm back and lead 23-21, but Virginia Tech wasn’t done. The A 6-2 Hokies run ended the set and the match.
One of several bright spots for the Orange was right-side hitter Sydnie Waller, who tallied 15 kills on a .393 hitting percentage. Middle blocker Soana Lea’ea added 14 kills on a .429 rate. Captain and outside hitter Gabby McLaughlin recorded a match-high 19 kills.
It’s the end of the road for McLaughlin, Lea’ea, and the rest of a talented Orange graduating class. The group helped to take SU to new heights under head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam.
SU earned its first set win against a ranked opponent under Ganesharatnam in a 3-1 loss to then-No. 21 North Carolina on Oct. 19. SU took the first frame of a match with then-No. 15 Miami on Nov. 2 for its first lead over a top-25 squad since Ganesharatnam joined the program in 2022.
Those milestones are things to be proud of, but an 11-match losing streak to end the season is certainly a sour way to end the season. Nevertheless, the season should be remembered by the strides taken in the first half of the year, not the skid that made up for the latter part of it.
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