Syracuse swept by Clemson, extends longest losing streak in 2 years to 10
Syracuse was swept by Clemson for its 10th straight loss, its longest drought since its 2-26 campaign two years ago. Tara Deluca | Staff Photographer
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Nine was Syracuse’s magic number last year. That’s how many times the Orange fell flat before winning their first Atlantic Coast Conference match of the season against Virginia Tech on Oct. 27, 2024.
That ended a drought SU was yearning to thwart for nearly two years, when it defeated Virginia on Nov. 6, 2022. It lost 31 consecutive conference matches in that span.
Syracuse found itself pitted in a similar spot ahead of Tuesday. It was, again, on a nine-game losing streak. Though, the trend felt as frustrating as the 31-match dry spell.
A once-promising 5-4 start to conference play vanished out of thin air. Syracuse looked primed to compete with the cream of the crop in its conference. It was never going to beat its six ranked opponents. At the same time, SU fell to teams with poorer conference records at the time, like Virginia, Clemson, Wake Forest and NC State.
The Orange had a shot at revenge against the Tigers Tuesday to avoid a double-digit losing streak, keep the magic number at nine and keep its chance alive to achieve a .500 record for the first time in three years.
Syracuse (13-16, 5-14 ACC) reached its longest losing streak since 2023 and its longest conference drought since 2022 in its three-set defeat to Clemson (17-14, 5-14 ACC) Tuesday. Behind a near-perfect performance from Tigers junior Kate Hansen, which featured a career-high 14 kills and just one error, Clemson earned its third conference sweep, snapping a four-match losing streak.
It’s rare that the Orange don’t have a player in double-digit kills, but that’s happened in their last three matches. It’s uncharacteristic for someone like Gabriella McLaughlin, who’s broken 10 on 21 occasions. Skylar George had also done it in more than half of SU’s matches, but she only mustered five kills Tuesday.
George hasn’t been entirely consistent. Sometimes, she’ll pull off a big string of pegs at ridiculous velocities. Other times, she’ll overshoot her attacks. George came out with fire Tuesday, smacking a ball at Katherine Sandt for SU’s first point. She threaded a ball low three plays later for a kill. Though, she botched the ensuing serve, trimming Syracuse’s lead to 4-3. Through 24 points, she was 3-for-7.
On the other side, Mia Moore got going early. Despite her first swing landing out of bounds to give the Orange their second point, she rebounded to hand Clemson its fourth and knot the first set.
SU’s had questions about who its right-side hitter would be. Sometimes, it’s Marie Laurio. She racked up 16 digs in the Orange’s last match versus the Tigers on Nov. 7. But the Orange lost that match in four, so they opted for a more aggressive approach with Sydnie Waller up front.
Waller went from right to left to tie Clemson at eight apiece off a lob from Tehya Maeva, who totaled 24 assists — her sixth-fewest in a match this season. Later, Waller delivered a slap that reverberated around Jervey Gym in an attempt to catch the Tigers’ 19-17 advantage.
But then, Turkish freshman Ecem Aksoy took the game over for Clemson. She notched her lone two kills of the first frame down the stretch, and a Moore smack down the middle at George secured a 25-21 Tigers win.
The second set couldn’t have started off worse for both sides. The first four points were decided by attack errors. That was until SU began plunging forward, and a Soana Lea’ea rocket off Nil Okur’s knee gave it a 4-2 advantage.
The Orange continued their momentum early in the frame with a McLaughlin pellet over Claire Luoma. Another kill from the senior gave Syracuse a 13-10 advantage — a lead it hadn’t squandered since it was down 2-1.
When SU seemed to be hitting its stride, things got ugly. Mia Moore, who had eight kills, threaded the needle under Rana Yamada on the next point. George missed wide right on the ensuing play.
Syracuse opted for Oreva Evivie instead of Zharia Harris-Waddy as its middle blocker alongside Lea’ea, and she had a strong peg off Okur. Waller also knotted the frame moments later at eight, making her 4-for-11 from that point.
The second set saw 13 ties with the bulk of the back-and-forth play coming halfway through. Hansen found a hole to break open a 24-24 tie, and her one-legged push shot doomed SU.
Despite a chance to return to the match, SU looked gassed, playing without any sense of urgency early in the third set. Hansen continued her career day, earning the frame’s first two points. Okur slipped a pass from Katherine Sandt, who had 37 assists — her most since Nov. 2 — down the right line. Hansen had seven digs Tuesday, contributing to Clemson’s ACC-best 15.44 per set.
McLaughlin had a small spurt on an elongated rally with a kill to trim the Clemson advantage to 16-11. Though, her seven errors drove her hitting percentage down to 6.1%, driving SU’s cumulative rate down to 13.8%.
From that point on, it was all about the Tigers putting the icing on the cake. Back-to-back spikes from Mia McGrath and Hansen, on the longest rally of the game, extended their lead to 20-15. On the final play, Laurio got up to the net to counter Clemson twice, but Aksoy gave SU its final punishment, extending its dry spell to 10.
