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Polina Shemanova stood, beaming, as she cupped her record-tying volleyball proudly in her hands. On Sep. 1, the outside hitter became just the fifth Syracuse player to record 1,500 kills, reaching the milestone during the Orange’s matchup with Kansas State at last weekend’s UCF Challenge. The next day, her 14 kills against UCF moved her into fourth on the all-time list, where she remained going into today’s showdown with Army. 

However, the seasoned veteran felt the jitters early on. After Syracuse received the opening serve, a ball was teed up, high in the air for Shemanova to latch onto, but the graduate student struck it awkwardly. The ball bulged against the net and fell forward toward her feet — an attacking error on the very first play. She shook her head in disbelief as she headed into a huddle with her teammates. A brief discussion later, she assumed her position on the front line, ready to receive. 

Army’s Diana Ethridge sent the second serve of the game sailing over the net, one that was easily handled by Alyssa Bert. The ball shot up in the air toward Lauren Woodford, who played a controlled set across to Shemanova. In an almost identical fashion as the previous point, Shemanova rose up and smashed the ball toward Army’s right backfield. This time, it careened off of the opposition to level the score at one apiece. Shemanova smiled, and the home crowd cheered for the first time this season. 

For the rest of the first set, Shemanova was quiet, committing two attack errors while only mustering up three kills as Syracuse would end up dropping the first, 25-22.  The second set didn’t go much better as her offensive stats continued to stay alarmingly low, recording only two kills. 

It wasn’t that Shemanova refused to get involved, nor was it that playmakers Bert, Woodford and Riley Hoffman chose to pick other teammates to pass to. Rather, it was a stellar Army defense that foiled almost all of Shemanova’s kill attempts, no matter how powerful or harsh she hit the ball.

Even for an athlete of her caliber and experience, frustration and confusion were etched on the Russian’s face at times, as she shared the shock with the crowd every time her shot was repelled by an opposition dig. 

“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think I did a great job dealing with this mentally today,” Shemanova said. “Because it is frustrating when you use so much power and they’re still returning.” 

The start of the third and potentially final set brought glimpses of Shemanova’s quality as she helped Syracuse jump out to a quick start, playing an integral part in its first five points, four of which went unanswered. After another successful link-up play with Woodford, resulting in her sixth kill of the game, Shemanova took over on service. 

Tactically placed by head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam to be the first SU player to serve at the start of a new set, Shemanova opened the third set with three consecutive service aces. Several points later, kills by fellow outside hitters Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk and Naomi Franco the Orange were already up 8-2. 

Despite avoiding a straight-set loss, Shemanova still struggled to find her rhythm. In what would be the final set of the game, she managed just four kills, bringing her total to 11 — her second-lowest of the season so far. Although her total points still ranked her amongst the top two for Syracuse on the night, alongside Lokhmanchuk, Shemanova’s hitting percentage was just 17.9%. 

“So I personally don’t think that was my greatest game today,” Shemanova said. “But we’ll do better tomorrow.” 

Now that Syracuse is 3-4 on the season, Shemanova’s final home season opener ended with a loss to in-state rival Army. However, given the circumstances of this new-look Syracuse team with only 11 total players after losing nine from the previous year, Shemanova knows winning will be a daunting but achievable task. 

“We got to make the emphasis on communication,” Shemanova said. “Little things like that make a huge difference, especially if we’re losing those free balls or easy balls.”

Published on September 9, 2022 at 1:01 am

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff