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In the first set against Louisville, Syracuse was flat footed. The Cardinals had a 10-4 lead, and unable to receive their serves, Syracuse couldn’t build an effective offense. Through their serving, Louisville halted Syracuse’s ability to build an effective offense, something it has not been able to do consistently this season. 

The Orange recorded 10 aces during their eight sets of play against the Panthers but just seven aces in the last 13 sets. Unable to use the service line to its advantage, Syracuse has had trouble going on long runs and stringing points together. 

After Syracuse took its first — and only — wins of the season against Pittsburgh in five and three sets, the Orange (2-4, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) have lost four consecutive matches, three of them in straight sets. Though the Orange found success serving against Pitt, they rank 12th in the ACC with only 0.81 aces per set, significantly lower than last year’s 5th place ranking and 1.32 average. 

“Last year, we were working on serves a lot, like really a lot. And I think we improved from last season,” middle blocker Marina Markova said. “(But) I think we can do better because for me to serve good, it’s more psychological.” 

Markova leads the Orange in service aces with six, and her jump-floater technique makes it difficult for the opposing team to pinpoint where it’ll land. The speed of Markova’s serve, and the rate at which it drops makes it a nightmare to return, teammate Abby Casiano said. 

Last year, despite missing half the season due to injury, Markova finished with 22 aces — second to Polina Shemanova’s team-high 31. 

Even when Markova can’t record an ace, her serve still disrupts opponents’ receiving abilities and their offense, Casiano said. It puts them out of rotation, she added, so she knows where the setter will be and can get into a better blocking position. 

“It also makes my job a lot easier when our team is serving well,” Casiano said. 

Syracuse’s serving did its job against defending ACC champion Pittsburgh as SU used its serving prowess in key situations to secure side-outs. In the first game of the season, senior Ella Saada — who has the second-most service aces alongside Elena Karakasi — put the game at match point with an ace in the fifth set. One night later, on the last play of the game, Karakasi pushed a float serve in for an ace, handing Syracuse a straight-set win. 

The Orange were unable to duplicate that same success in later matches. In the Notre Dame series, most of Syracuse’s aces came midway through a set, as opposed to during crucial moments. During the Louisville games Syracuse hardly ever had serving opportunities, a result of the Cardinals’ dominance.

“(Serving is) more of an individual skill, so you can work whenever you want and you don’t need other people involved in the drill,” Shemanova said. “I wouldn’t say we spend too much time on it actually (as a team).” 

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Head coach Leonid Yelin uses hand signals to tell his players where on the court they should place the ball, and if they should take a full swing or go for a more conservative serve. Shemanova says these signals can be as simple as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. 

The Orange adjust their serve based on factors like who scored most recently and the set’s score. For instance, if Syracuse missed a serve, it should opt to just put the ball in play on the next serve so it doesn’t risk another miss, according to Shemanova.

Shemanova also said each venue can affect a server’s ability. Specifically, Shemanova pointed to Notre Dame’s Joyce Center as a place she has never served well. A shift in location could potentially throw a server off, Shemanova said. 

With upcoming games against Boston College in the Women’s Building, the Orange will look to replicate their serving performance from the opening weekend. 

“We have a really good serving team and we might not have shown that through all of our games yet,” Saada said. “But I think individually, we have people that can serve really well.”

Published on October 13, 2020 at 10:03 pm

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