Volleyball: Yelin Says Confidence Is The Key as Orange Falls Again

Story and photos by Kelsey Snider

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange Women were back at home in the Women’s Building Friday afternoon for the first day in the Syracuse Tournament, but went into the weekend still looking for their first win.

The Hofstra Pride swept Syracuse three sets to none (25-18, 25-18, 25-20) making the Orange’s overall record 0-5.  Head coach, Leonid Yelin says is not so worried about the technical side of the game, but more about the confidence his players have.

“What we have to do from now is get with more games is hopefully build confidence,” Yelin said. “Defense and serve receive definitely really struggled today, and I don’t see it’s because of our skills actually. It’s more of a level of confidence.”

In all three sets, Syracuse was close to Hofstra, but there were a couple of areas that could have been improved to possibly lead to a victory. The Orange had seven service errors, eight reception errors, and 11 block errors. All of which can be improved over time.

Hofstra led Syracuse in attack percentage, total number of assists and total number of digs.

The tournament is composed of four teams, Syracuse, Hofstra, Siena, and Penn State. Penn State beat Siena in straight sets Friday morning.

Syracuse will be back in the Women’s Building Saturday to take on Siena at 10 a.m. and Penn State at 7 p.m. Penn State plays Hofstra at 12:30 and Siena and Hofstra play at 4:30.