Volleyball Rebounds From Losing Streak with 3-2 Win Over North Carolina

Ryan Bridges | @RyanBridges517 

CitrusTV Volleyball Beat Reporter 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Syracuse took down North Carolina in five sets on Sunday.  

SU came into this one on a three game skid, and if you watched the first set of this match, you probably would have thought the losing streak would continue.  

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 5-1 lead early and never looked back. The Orange ended up losing the set 25-19. 

That first set loss made it 10 straight set losses for Syracuse. However, in the second set, SU wanted to put that streak to bed.  

With the second set in the balance, grad-student Polina Shemanova flipped a switch. She scored six of SU’s final seven points to close out the set. The Orange won 25-21.   

Syracuse could not pull away from North Carolina in the third set. SU was leading 15-11 coming out of a media timeout, but was on the wrong side of a 5-2 run. This forced the Orange to take their own timeout. If they wanted to break the losing streak they were on, this was their moment.  

Coming out of the timeout, Syracuse proceeded to go on an 8-1 run to finish the set. SU’s offensive stars stepped up big to close it out. Viktoriia Lokhmancuk had multiple blocks, and Naomi Franco had back-to-back kills as well. The Orange now had a 2-1 lead. 

Syracuse took the lead after dropping the opening set, but did not do a great job holding onto it. North Carolina never trailed in the fourth set, and evened the match at two. 

The pressure of possibly blowing the match did not get to SU. The final set was as lopsided as it could have possibly been. Syracuse at one point was ahead 10-3, and won the set 15-7.  

This win brings the Orange to 9-9 on the year, and 5-3 in the ACC. 

Although SU was on the road this weekend, they will not be playing in the Women’s Building anytime soon. A pair of road matchups against Clemson and Georgia Tech await Syracuse next week.