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Down 23-19, Clemson’s Anna Renwick stepped up to serve, hitting the ball straight down the middle toward Alyssa Bert. Bert dug the ball to Lauren Woodford, who set the ball toward Syracuse’s left sideline for Polina Shemanova. Shemanova performed a slight hop, readying herself to jump, before sending a spike hurtling across the net that Becca Micelle didn’t come close to getting. 

From there, Bert stepped up to serve. The ball made a beeline toward Devan Taylor and careened out off her hands to give SU (10-9, 6-3 Atlantic Coast) its tenth win of the season, sweeping Clemson (11-10, 2-7 ACC) in three sets. Tonight marked the second consecutive win for Syracuse after a five-set road win over North Carolina, giving Bakeer Ganesharatnam’s side a 4-1 record on the road in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Although Shemanova recorded her third-lowest kill total of the season with 10, she still held the game-high, tied with Clemson’s Aźyah Dailey. Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk and Naomi Franco both tallied nine kills as well. 

Its first sweep in league play, Syracuse dominated in almost every single core statistic. Once again, Bert was steady at the libero position, recording five digs and two assists. Riley Hoffman continued to impress during her career year as she led Syracuse in assists with 19. Woodford chipped in with 16.

In the first set, the Tigers jumped out to a short-lived 6-4 lead before SU came storming back, knotting things at 14 apiece. Afterwards, the Orange went on two separate scoring runs, putting them ahead, 20-15. Trailing 24-21, Clemson scored two quick points to draw within one. However, a Bre Walp kill at the net had too much on it for Micelle, giving SU the opening set. That was the closest score margin Clemson would have for the rest of the game. 

In the ensuing set, Syracuse dominated, winning by eight points, 25-17. Clemson was unable to recover from a sluggish start and struggled in challenging SU’s attacking players at the net. 

Similar to the first set, the third set favored Clemson early on. The Tigers led 9-5 with middle blocker Ani Clark notching two kills. But from then on, Syracuse took over, scoring seven unanswered points to lead by three, 12-9. Clemson could never really find its footing after that and were unable to string together a run of more than two consecutive points for the rest of the set. The Orange would complete the sweep, 25-19. 

On the defensive front, Shemanova led the way for the Orange in digs, totaling 12. Lokhmanchuk added five. Walp reassumed her position as the top block-getter in this game finishing with three, tying the game-high. Raina Hughes, who produced a monstrous seven blocks against North Carolina last time out, had two tonight. 

Published on October 21, 2022 at 11:18 pm

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff