Syracuse Volleyball Suffers Their First Loss of the Season
By Annie Klaff
CitrusTV Volleyball Reporter
After coming off of a strong 3-1 set win over Iowa yesterday, tonight’s results against Iowa State were not as lucky. The Orange and the Cyclones came into this match with similar records, which certainly showed through in their performances. SU hit the court, undefeated and with a record of 7-0 and Iowa State close behind with 5-1. Syracuse attacked the net strongly early in the match, securing the first set 25-20. The Orange tallied on 15 kills in that first victory, but the Cyclones were trailing close with 14. Moving into set 2 is when the competition sparked. Iowa State claimed the second 25-21, showing Syracuse that they wouldn’t go down early. The Cyclones bumped up their hitting percentage by just over 12% in the second set. But this match was far from a deciding win for either team. ‘Cuse brought it back to their side for the third, but not easily. The highest lead for either side here was only by 5 points. Other than that, it was as much “back and forth” as it was for the entire match. At this point, it was the Orange with 2 set wins and the Cyclones with 1. But of course, the fight just kept on going. Iowa State pulled ahead in set 4 by 6 points – the largest set lead all night. 2-2 in set wins meant a long night for both ‘Cuse and the ‘Clones. Iowa State ultimately took home the deciding set and the match win for the night, enhancing their season wins to 6 and leading Syracuse to their first loss of 2021.
While Syracuse suffered defeat tonight for the first time this fall, some Orange individual players reached new highs. Senior Polina Shemanova led both teams with 26 kills, her season high. Shemanova also led the match with 47 attacks and 28 points. Additionally, 6’3” Junior, Izzy Plummer held a hitting percentage of 66.7%. Syracuse accepts adding that first loss to their record, but it certainly wasn’t by a landslide for Iowa State.
SU is sticking in Coralville, Iowa to finish out the Cy-Hawk Series Tournament tomorrow against Ball State tomorrow at 12pm.
@annieklaff | aklaff@citrustv.net
