All season, Syracuse’s coaching staff has hoped for one thing — its team to play three straight sets without “lulls in between,” said assistant coach Derryk Williams. 

After Friday’s loss to No. 3 Pittsburgh, the Orange saw glimpses of a team with consistency and confidence, nearly defeating the Panthers in the first set, 26-24. But SU only showed that poise in spurts. Against Virginia on Sunday, Syracuse finally played a complete match. 

“We’ve had a few times where we’re up a bunch, and then we let them get five points in a row with stupid errors,” Williams said. “Today we didn’t make those errors.” 

Syracuse’s (5-8, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) sweep of Virginia (9-10, 1-5) marked the end of the Orange’s three-game losing streak, which included narrow losses to Duke and Wake Forest. Winning every set by a margin of at least eight points, the Orange never trailed during their three-set sweep of Virginia. Head coach Leonid Yelin didn’t think SU was as dominant as it can be, but a straight set win over an ACC opponent like UVA helps SU gain the assurance of flipping its early season woes. 

Struggling with service errors during last week’s loss to Wake Forest, Polina Shemanova jump started the Orange, securing 19 kills and 16 digs. Her serve was back at its All-ACC level — she wasn’t forced to take power off her serves in order for them to be accurate.

“I mean I played as usual, you always have to do your best,” Shemanova said. “Today it worked.”

Time-and-again, Shemanova rose into the air, a few feet from the left edge of the net, and pulled her right arm back for a crushing kill. The Cavaliers had no answer for Shemanova, who repeated the play so many times that by the third set, she seemed unfazed after winning the point. 

With Shemanova leading the Orange both offensively and defensively, Marina Markova, who has 101 kills this season, had a quieter role than usual. Midway through the first set, she appeared to go up for a kill, but instead elected to fake it, swiping at the air and allowing Shemanova to come behind her to secure the point. Though Markova was put on the backburner for Shemanova’s consistent play, Markova still had five kills, four of which came in the first set. 

Though UVA and Syracuse were tied at 11 during both the first and second set, Yelin admitted that the Cavaliers struggled to keep up with SU’s level of play. Shemanova said her impressive performance can, to a certain degree, be chalked up to poor blocking, serve-receive difficulties and shaky defense from Virginia. 

Like the Orange, Virginia entered Sunday’s matchup after losing three-consecutive ACC games. Though a potential gap in talent gave the Orange a favorable edge, SU didn’t try to look past the Cavaliers, who are now 1-5 in conference play.

“We had our stuff going today and they may have been a little off, but they have some really talented players,” Williams said.

Yelin substituted just one player until the third set because his starting lineup continued to find success and didn’t have to fluctuate like other matches. Having seven players rotating for six spots on the court allowed the team to build rhythm and momentum that it doesn’t always have. 

Though SU secured the win, it didn’t play a perfect game despite winning in straight sets, Yelin said. The Orange’s relatively young team is still learning how to win, but its potential has showed up in waves. 

“We’ve been away from home a lot, so having a win at home is huge,” senior libero Aliah Bowllan said.

In past games, short periods of dysfunction plagued with errors ultimately caused the Orange to self-destruct in close games. But on Sunday, Syracuse held form. 

Published on October 13, 2019 at 6:20 pm

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