Volleyball: Close Sets as Panthers Beat Orange 3-1

Story and photos by Kelsey Snider

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Orange (7-20, 6-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) took on the University of Pittsburgh Panthers (21-8, 12-5 ACC) in the SU Women’s Building Friday night.

With both teams were coming off of a loss the week the Panthers got the best of the Orange in a hard fought four sets (25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22).

“I think we just got beat by team who is played better tonight than we did,” Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin said. “It doesn’t mean we didn’t play well, but they played better.”

Set 1: Coming Out with Drive

The  Panthers came out with high energy and fighting for every point, while the Orange kept an even cool.

It was only three points into the first set, and the Panthers attacked from the right side of the court. The referee called it out giving Syracuse the point, but the Panthers insisted that a Syracuse had defender touched it. The players and head coach Dan Fisher argued with both the up and down referees.

The Orange ended up winning that point. That play, however, set the tone for set one and it was a battle all the way up until the end.

The Orange had a lead until the Panthers tied the score at 8-8. From then on, neither team had more than a two-point lead.

We played with them good in the first game, and it was not enough,” Yelin said. “In the end they pushed a little bit more, and we didn’t respond.”

The Panthers won the set 25-23.

Set 2: Sloppy All Around

After losing a close first set, the Orange started out the second with more of a spark. But with the intensity coming from both sides of the net, both teams became sloppy and there were unforced errors, 

The attackers from both sides were hitting into the middle of a solid double block making the ball go straight down with no chance to recover it. There was missed blocking assignments from both teams leaving one-on-zero situations giving the defense no chance to recover.

The Orange stayed close going back and forth with the Panthers, but at 19-19, ended up giving Pittsburgh a 6-point run to win the second set 25-19.

Set 3: Long Rallies

With the Panthers up 2-1 in set three, they attacked a hard driven ball, which was dug up by Syracuse. The dig was not controlled, but a one handed save by outside hitter, Mackenzie Weaver saved the point. 

The Orange gave the Panthers a free ball, and they attacked another hard driven ball. Syracuse again had an uncontrolled dig, which again was saved with one hand from setter, Jalissa Trotter. Pittsburgh gained the control of the free ball and ended up winning the point.

That play was one of many long rallies as the Orange and the Panthers finally got into a rhythm.

There wasn’t a play were you didn’t find a player from either team flying across the court to dive for a ball keeping their team in the rally.

Syracuse sealed the set win with a stuff block making the score 20-15. While the Panthers tried to stay in the game with a 3-point run, it wasn’t enough and Syracuse took the set 25-22.

Set 4: The Fight Continues

The passion from the last set spilled over.

Both the Orange and the Panthers kept up with the theme of long rallies. Each team continued to stay in rhythm. Both the offenses and the defenses were firing on all cylinders.

The attackers would take their best swing, but the defenders would pop the ball up and make it look easy. You could tell that the hitters were becoming frustrated. The rallies would end because they would sail the ball out of bounds. Other times, they would just hit it so hard that it would go straight down in front of the defender.

It was back and forth for most of the set. Each team would get the lead and then other would come back to tie it up.

But the Orange started to break down at the end of the set. Serve receive became unstable, which carried through the entire team.

The Panthers took the fourth set and the match with an ace (25-22).

"This was a super difficult match," Pitt's Fisher said.  "We have always had trouble playing at Syracuse. It's a physical team that is way better now than at the start of the year. They have done a nice job of improving and I thought their libero had a really nice game."

Next

“The biggest thing we need to do is learn,” Syracuse setter, Jalissa Trotter said. “I think we need to learn from the mistakes and learn from the good things so we can gradually get better as a team.”

On Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Women’s Building, the Orange plays its last home match of the season against the University of Virginia Cavaliers.