Syracuse Volleyball Sweeps Tournament

By Lindsey Horsting

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse University's Volleyball team knocked off Navy and Buffalo on Sunday to complete a 3-game sweep of its home tournament,

The Orange got off to a slow start against the Navy Midshipmen in the morning match at the SU Women's building and and three sets had several lead changes. 

Navy exploded to an 11-4 first set lead before Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin called timeout.  Following the timeout the Orange tied the game 13-13 first set and kept pace to take it 25-23.

The Orange won 25-15 in the second set.  But Navy wasn’t going to give up and took the third set 25-22.  Navy had 14 kills compared to eight for the Orange in the third.

Syracuse completed the match with a 26-24 fourth set to take the match 3-1.  Red shirt senior Nicolette Serratore had 17 kills and 12 digs.  Senior Silvi Uattara had 17 digs and sophomore Belle Sand had 18.  Uattara and Sand combined for 23 of their digs in the last two sets. 

Navy’s libero Shearn Sydney led all players with 21 digs.

The Orange finished the tournament Sunday night with a 3-0 win against the Buffalo Bulls 25-13, 25-16, 25-10.  The team is connecting well on the court and the timing couldn’t be better, Serratore told cuse.com. 

“I’m so proud of how far our team has come and can’t wait to see what we have in store for the ACC,” Serratore said.

The wins over Navy, UB and New Hampshire on Saturday put the Orange at 9-2 for pre-ACC season play.

Syracuse will host its opening ACC game against Boston College in the Women’s Building Friday, September 25 at 7 p.m.