Syracuse posts 4th-worst attack rate of season in loss to No. 21 UNC
Syracuse posted a 14.3% attack rate in its Sunday loss to No. 21 UNC, the fourth-worst mark of its campaign. Sean Aldridge | Contributing Photographer
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In Syracuse’s loss to then-No. 6 Louisville on Sept. 28, it recorded its worst hitting percentage of the season — 4%. Cara Cresse stymied the Orange with two blocks and three block assists. Gabriella McLaughlin is always SU’s workhorse, and on 30 attempts, the ferocious Cardinal defense held her to a 6.7% mark. When a team’s kill leader can’t get things going, nobody can, and Syracuse lost in three sets.
Two weeks later, the Orange welcomed then-No. 6 Stanford to the Women’s Building. SU played competitively but fell flat on its face. The Cardinal handed the Orange a loss in three sets. A 7.1% hitting percentage wasn’t anything to boast about, either. Despite the small sample size, Zharia Harris-Waddy and Tehya Maeva posted negative attack rates. In fact, Syracuse couldn’t muster a positive hitting percentage in the third set, with a -6.3% mark.
When the Orange can’t get things going on the attack, they lose their identity. Their outside hitter rotation has serious talent and depth, yet sometimes, things don’t go their way. It didn’t help that Stanford had a brick wall in 6-foot-5 Erika Sayer last week at the net.
Still, the common theme is that SU falters at the net against superior opponents. Louisville and Stanford were both the sixth-ranked team in the nation when SU faced them. So when Syracuse faced another one of its conference’s top dogs again, it did all that it could. Yet, the adjustments weren’t enough when that opportunity came Sunday.
Syracuse (12-6, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) recorded its fourth-worst attack percentage of the season in its 3-1 loss to No. 21 North Carolina (15-2, 8-0 ACC) at 14.3%. It’s expected that the Orange could have made proper switches so history wouldn’t repeat itself. But no matter who was at the net for SU, nobody could solve the complex puzzle the Tar Heels had in store for it.
After SU took down Rider on Aug. 31, head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam wasn’t pleased that his go-to outside hitter Gabriella McLaughlin had so many attempts.
“She had 61 attempts,” Ganesharatnam said, glancing at the stat sheet. “We’re not going to survive the season with that. Neither is her shoulder.”
On Sunday, the captain totaled 52 attempts, the fourth-most in four-set contests this campaign. Normally, she turns in efficient figures. McLaughlin’s breakout junior year at Nevada featured a career-best 18.8% attack rate with 443 kills.
“She played shoot really tight sets with a lot of points, so you rack up a lot of attempts
at the end of the day,” he said. “I think she’s in her prime. We’re gonna feed the hot hand. She’s producing numbers.”
This year, she’s been even more efficient. Through 67 sets on 766 attempts, the most of any Orange player by over 200, she’s upped her career-high to 20.5%.
But on Sunday, as talented as she is, McLaughlin’s 15.4% mark wasn’t going to cut it if the rest of the squad didn’t have her back.
“I tend to get blocked a lot. I just have a goldfish memory,” she said. “It’s just one point. So I just got to move on to the next and remind myself everyone gets blocked. It’s no big deal.”
Skylar George has also been one of Syracuse’s hottest hands on the attack. She’s topped a 30% rate four times this campaign. However, George gets the ball a ton, and playing against top ACC defenses at the net will cause her numbers to dip. A .167 rate Sunday dipped her season percentage to .193.
Though, the redshirt sophomore’s made strides since last campaign, when the percent sat at 11.7% overall. She even recorded negative marks in eight matches in 2024.
Sydnie Waller has been the glue the Orange have needed to get back on track at the net after conference losses, especially on the right side. But Sunday, a 4-for-19 success rate was her second-lowest of the campaign.
When the outside hitters and right-side hitters face a formidable block in UNC, that’s the result they will get every time. However, compared to Syracuse’s 1.2% mark at Chapel Hill on Sept. 27, 2024, it’s made strides. Yet, the Tar Heels proved that the Orange are ways away from contesting their block, though Ganesharatnam thinks his squad is close.
“They have some really good pins. They have physical middles and some really big and physical right-sides too. There’s a lot of weapons they have on that side,” he said.
He isn’t wrong. Lauren Schutter was shutting down SU all game long. She had a three-point stretch early in the second set when she delivered two smackdowns at the Orange’s feet. North Carolina has the top blocks-per-set average in the ACC with 3.01 for a reason. Ahead of this weekend’s contest, the Tar Heels were seventh in the nation in the category.
“We should remind ourselves, it’s part of the game. We’re gonna get our blocks. They’re gonna get theirs,” middle blocker Soana Lea’ea said.
But the second set featured Syracuse’s best performance at the net. A .267 mark during the frame wasn’t anything to be upset about. In fact, it topped SU’s .217 percentage for the season.
But that didn’t continue into the final frames. The Orange’s 2.8% mark in the third set was their worst of the game.
Nonetheless, SU’s second set saw a strong attack force a miraculous comeback for its first set victory over a ranked opponent in Ganesharatnam’s tenure. Still, it wasn’t enough.
“UNC did a really good job diversifying the offense, getting more players involved, especially the right sides and the middles, which really put some pressure on our defense,” Ganesharatnam said.
