Syracuse Volleyball Drops Another Close Match

By Jessica Eley

Gosia Wlaszcsuck sets up the Orange offense.

The SU women's volleyball team came out empty handed again Sunday, dropping its 13th  conference match, this time to Boston College in the Women's Building.

The Eagles (11-14, 6-8 ACC) beat the Orange 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15.

The Orange (8-18, 1-13 ACC) was led by junior outside hitter, Monika Salkute, (12 kills) and senior middle blocker, Lindsay McCabe.(10 kills). McCabe was the most efficient hitter at .563 percent.


Unhappy with the effort

Head coach Leonid Yelin said he was disappointed with his team's effort during the match.

"Only new thing I can say the difference is in this game is unfortunately, we are trying less...less effort and for much shorter time,"Yelin said.

McCabe was equally disappointed after the team's loss.

"We always play better in the beginning of the set, but when it's crunch time and we need to play even better is when we're making some crucial mistakes," McCabe said.

The first set was full of errors on both sides. There were several serving errors that kept the score close throughout the set. The Orange was halted at 19 points by several BC kills before a kill from junior outside hitter, Silvi Uattara, and freshman middle blocker, Leah Levert cut the Eagles' lead to 23-21. But BC then finished it out, winning the set 25-21.

SU and BC were tied eight times during the second set. After being tied at 13, a kill from Uattara began the Orange's four-point run. A kill from BC cut the score to 17-14.  SU lost its lead after several kills from BC's Katty Workman, but eventually closed the set with a kill from Uattara to even the match.

The Orange fought hard through the third set, but lost 22-25.

After several point exchanges, BC ran away with the lead in the final set. Yelin called his first timeout after six straight points from BC. The Eagles scored twice more before SU earned a point. During BC's large scoring runs, the Orange appeared to have given up hope of winning the set and the match.

"When they got a run of points we got down and I think as you could see, we showed it," McCabe said. "We need to do better of when one person makes a mistake, everyone else steps up for them."

SU only has four more games left in the season. The Orange plays at Miami and Florida State on Nov. 21 and 23 before returning home for its last two matches against Virginia and Virginia Tech.