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Raina Hughes and Alyssa Bert got into position as they stared down Yale’s Mila Yarich who prepared to serve the ball. Bert dug the ball out just as it careened towards the floor. Polina Shemanova was able to set the ball for Hughes, who tried to get the ball past the Yale blockers, but was turned away by Fatima Samb. 

Samb got her second block of the night to put Yale up 11-9 in the third set. The Bulldogs were able to stifle Syracuse’s attacks all night as the Orange struggled to get by Yale’s blocks. 

The Orange (4-6, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) had a tough time getting into a rhythm as they fell to Yale (4-1, 0-0 Ivy League) in straight sets. Syracuse lost two of its first three games in the Syracuse Tournament. 

Each time Syracuse attempted a kill, whether it was Shemanova or Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk, or any of the other outside hitters, Yale sent the ball right back. When the bulldogs were on the attack, the Orange struggled to deal with Yale’s outside hitters Cara Shultz and Yarich.

Lokhmanchuk adjusted her body position and rose for a ball set by Lauren Woodford, and as she spiked it over the net, it was blocked by Gigi Barr to give Yale a 20-15 advantage in the first set. Barr’s block was one of several in the first set by Yale, while Syracuse didn’t manage any. The first two sets proved to be a struggle for Syracuse as they couldn’t find a way to slow down Yale’s high-paced offense. 

“It’s not easy to get touches against them, so we need to make sure we’re in the right position,” Syracuse coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “Once we’re in position, we have to get the timing right and make sure we press and get some good contacts.”

During the second set, Lokhmanchuk once again prepared herself for a kill attempt, but like in the first set, she was turned away by Fatima. Lokhmanchuk finished the game with 11 kills, just behind Shemanova with 12, but both had a tough time against Yale’s stellar defense. 

The Orange, playing their third game in two days, had to dig deep both physically and mentally, while trying not to get caught up in any mistakes that were made. 

“There are at least 75 points in every game and if you keep thinking about the points that you’re losing, you keep dragging those errors with you. You have to have a fast and quick recovery to not lose points.” Shemanova said. 

Hughes set the tone in the third set right from the start. She set her feet and got off the ground quickly, blocking a soft attempt at the net by Audrey Leak, as the ball fell into the middle of four Yale players. Hughes provided a huge spark for Syracuse in the third set, with three of her team-high four blocks coming in the set. 

Her energy from the middle position gave Syracuse the energy it was lacking in the first two sets. The Orange totaled four blocks in the third set alone, doubling their total from the first two to give them eight blocks on the night. 

“Mentally I had more energy in this game versus this morning. I’m looking for more areas to put the ball (in) place as well and use the opportunities that I had when given to me,” Hughes said. 

Blocking is one of Syracuse’s strong suits with the Orange averaging 2.2 blocks per set compared to their opponents 1.8, but tonight they didn’t have an advantage in that part of the play. Against Hofstra, the Orange had nine blocks. Against Army they had 11, but tonight they could only manage eight in total. 

“It took us a little while to kind of make the adjustments, but once we made them, we were maybe not getting stuff blocks but definitely able to slow some of the offense down, which really helped us to pick them up.” Ganesharatnam said. 

As Yale was trying to put the game away, Hughes and Naomi Franco both leaped into the air right along the sideline and denied a kill attempt from Leak, knotting the third set up at 17. From there Yale was able to score eight of the next 13 points to complete the sweep. 

Syracuse kept each set close, but failed to capitalize on opportunities. The Orange struggled to deal with Yale’s aggressiveness at the net on offense and defense.

“I think realistically, we had at least two out of the three sets where we had chances, and that’s what we want to be.” Ganesharatnam said.  “We want to give ourselves an opportunity to win those sets and I’m pleased that we’re in that position. Even though we lost in three sets, we were I think very competitive against a really good team we faced today.”

Published on September 9, 2022 at 11:31 pm

Contact Zak: [email protected] | @ZakWolf22