SU volleyball unable to contain Big East’s best
Manley Field House was the loudest it had been all season. The Syracuse women’s volleyball team had just won the opening set against Notre Dame in convincing fashion, and the Orange looked poised to upset the Fighting Irish.
And then Notre Dame showed why it is the No. 1 team in the Big East.
Syracuse (19-10, 8-5 Big East) fell to Notre Dame (18-4, 12-0), 3-1, in front of 231 fans on Sunday, losing its first home game of the season. With SU up, 1-0, the Orange let a 19-18 lead slip away, as Notre Dame took seven of the last nine points to win the game, 25-21. From there, the Big East’s premier team rolled, winning the third and fourth sets by the score of 25-17 and 25-19, respectively.
Sophomore middle blocker Erin Little led the way for SU with 11 kills. Senior middle blocker Sarah Morton was right behind her with 10 of her own. Though Little and Morton were explosive at times, they didn’t play their most consistent games of the season. The unforced errors allowed Notre Dame to claw its way back into the game and eventually take over.
‘It was pretty much our mistakes,’ Morton said. ‘It was our mistakes that lost us the second game, and then Notre Dame started to pick it up, and we didn’t have the answer.’
Notre Dame coasted for the third game and most of the fourth game, until senior outside hitter Annabelle Pellerin gave SU an unexpected boost off the bench that gave the Irish some problems.
In the fourth game, Pellerin came into the match for the first time on the afternoon. With the Orange trailing, 21-11, SU scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the deficit to four. During that stretch, Pellerin delivered seven blocks and a solid hitting percentage of .667.
Following the game, assistant coach Carol LaMarche admitted that Pellerin should have gotten into the game earlier, as she almost single handedly brought Syracuse back into the match. From Pellerin’s perspective, she knew that with the team on the brink of defeat, all she could do was give it her all and try to make a difference in her limited time on the floor.
Notre Dame beat SU rather easily after the first game, but the Fighting Irish couldn’t overpower the Orange. In the first game, SU looked like the better team, repeatedly killing the ball past Irish defenders and digging out Notre Dame’s attacks. In the end, however, it came to down to mental mistakes and unforced errors, and SU was just not as solid as its opponent.
‘We saw some moments where we were playing at a really good level, and if we can keep that level, than we’re going to beat teams like Notre Dame,’ LaMarche said. ‘But Notre Dame was just a little more consistent today and we tightened up and started making errors, so it went their way. We came out ready to go and that’s all you can ask for, but there’s a reason that they’re undefeated in the Big East.’
Despite this difficult loss, the Orange still has a chance to end its Big East regular season on a high note when Villanova visits Manley Field House on Friday.
SU is currently 8-5 in conference play and sixth in the Big East standings. With a win against the Wildcats, the Orange would improve on last year’s Big East record and likely garner a No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the upcoming Big East tournament.
‘We wanted the win today,’ Morton added. ‘We wanted to go undefeated at home, but we have Villanova this weekend, and hopefully we’ll finish up better than we did last year.’
