Volleyball: Syracuse Wins The First Match of Conference

Story and photos by Kelsey Snider

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After struggling in non-conference play Syracuse won its first Atlantic Coast Conference match Friday night against the Boston College Eagles. The Orange started strong and won the match in four sets  (25-18, 25-12, 15-25, 25-21).

Discipline is the focus, head coach Leonid Yelin said afterward.

"I am just sitting in practice and praying for them to get faster, mature and use it because they have skills and they have abilities and they want to win."

Good to be home

After losing all three matches last weekend in Iowa, the Orange women (2-9, 1-0 ACC) were back in the Women’s Building and ready for the first conference win and the second overall win of the season.

A key turning point in this match was when Syracuse went on a ten-point run in set two. Junior setter, Jalissa Trotter, keep her composure at the service line and kept serving a nice line drive float to the Eagles. The Eagles (5-6, 0-1 ACC) had difficulty passing, and the Orange were able to get an easy ball back and run an effective offense.

However, it wasn’t a very consistent match from beginning to end for the Orange.

Yelin said the team needs to take care of the ball more in out of system situations. The players need to live to die another day. If the Orange keeps the ball in play rather than making an unforced error, it gives a chance to play defense when the ball is attacked back or gives the opponent an opportunity to make a mistake.

“Don’t give them easy points,” Yelin said. “This is experience. This is mental.”

Set 1:

Syracuse came out with the first play of the game with a roof block. Outside hitter, Anastasia Gorelina, then came barreling in with a strong game setting swing making the score 2-0. As the set furthered, Boston College came back into it, and it was a back and forth game. Syracuse went on a 5-point run, which created a separation bringing the score to 13-6. Boston College tried to come back from that, but Syracuse kept the pressure on with defense and blocking and won 25 -18.

Set 2:

Syracuse came out on fire with a 10-point service run by Jalissa Trotter. Boston College looked as if it had been back up in a corner with Syracuse showing no mercy. The Eagles were struggling to find composure on the court, which caused many reception errors and unforced errors.

The Eagles attack percentage for set two was -.192. With that, the Orange looked as if it was firing on all cylinders. The serving was very aggressive as well as attacking aggressive. The Orange’s hitting percentage was .364, but it was the blocking that made a difference. Boston College had a hard time finding court where the Orange’s net and floor defense wasn’t.

“In the blocks is what did it," Yelin said. "It was great blocks. They have to get around block, you know, and it’s easy to play defense. We make transition. That was like a volleyball book,”

Syracuse out-blocked Boston College 9.0 to 6.0.

Set 3:

Coming into set three, the Eagles didn’t look like they were down two sets. They came out strong with a 3-0 lead. This was the first time in the match where the Eagles led the Orange in points. At the first timeout of the set called by Syracuse, the Eagles were up 15-11. With a couple more kills and a few attack errors by the Orange, Boston College went on a 5-point run making the score 18-11. The Eagles, not ready to lose, kept the lead and went on to win the third set 25-15.

Set 4:

With both teams having a very up and down match, the fourth set was when they started to find a consistent rhythm.  The Orange and the Eagles were neck and neck the entire set. It was tied at 18-18, and that’s when Syracuse started to pull away advancing the score to 25-21. Outside hitter, Mackenzie Weaver got a career high of 12 kills, hitting .182 for the match.

Looking ahead:

The Orange are back in the Women’s Building on Sunday, Sept. 25, taking on the North Carolina State Wolfpack at 1 p.m.