Syracuse Volleyball Wins Big to Close Out Regular Season

By Annie Klaff

CitrusTV Volleyball Beat Reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. – Tonight, Syracuse Volleyball completed its regular season with a crucial win. SU went into the match needing a victory in order to strengthen its chances in receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Orange understood this task and settled it. 

Syracuse defeated NC State in a straight-set sweep. The Orange made use of their last opportunity to break their three-match losing streak. 

For the first set, SU beat NC State 25-21 and recorded a team hitting percentage of .375. In comparison to last Sunday’s brutal loss to Duke, that first set was just .206. Luckily, SU got off on the right foot tonight in Raleigh. 

Set two continued on that trend as Syracuse pulled ahead even further. The Orange secured the second set 25-19. At the end of the first two games, three SU players recorded an individual hitting percentage of .500. By the end of the match, junior Abby Casiano led both teams with .545. 

The end of the match wasn’t quite as smooth sailing as the first two. There were nine rallies at the end of the game that went back and forth between the two squads. This pushed the set all the way to a score of 29-27 as the Orange eventually won by two. 

Numerous Syracuse players topped the leaderboard tonight, including sophomore libero Lauren Hogan with 18 digs and junior Marina Markova with 21 kills. 

While the regular season is now over for SU, Sunday will present if the Orange’s performance over NC State was promising enough for the postseason. Syracuse still hopes for an at-large bid. The NCAA Tournament selections will be announced on Sunday, November 28th at 8:30 during the selection show.  

aklaff@citrustv.net | @annieklaff