Syracuse drops 7th straight in 4-set loss to NC State
After taking the first set Sunday, Syracuse volleyball dropped three straight to NC State to suffer its seventh straight loss. Tara DeLuca | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse was coasting high above the clouds not too long ago. After an emphatic five-set win against Boston College on Oct. 22, it appeared the Orange had finally found their footing.
SU was 5-4 in conference, which was on pace for its best mark in head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam’s tenure. Syracuse never dropped below .500 in conference play until its 11th ACC match.
SU was never bound to compete with top programs, so dropping matches to then-No. 15 Miami, Florida State and Georgia Tech, which regularly receives votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association, was anticipated.
But getting swept by Boston College or losing in four sets to teams with inferior conference records, in Clemson and Wake Forest, was never going to cut it.
SU faced a six-game losing streak and was on track to parallel its nine-match drought from last season. A clash with NC State on Sunday would determine if that reality was possible.
It certainly could be, as Syracuse (13-13, 5-11 Atlantic Coast) fell to NC State (13-13, 6-10 ACC) in four sets. The Orange had their best defensive performance of the season with 91 digs, featuring a career-high 28 for Rana Yamada, yet they were dominated across the block in their seventh consecutive defeat.
SU prioritized its start, earning a 4-1 advantage, which was headlined by a Skylar George crosscourt lob that Zuzia Maciejewicz couldn’t control.
Despite some early miscues, Gabriella McLaughlin was SU’s most productive hitter. Coming off a five-match stretch when she never surpassed a 15.5% attack rate, she bounced back Friday against Wake Forest with 21 kills, hitting a 28.6% clip. She continued her command of Syracuse’s attack Sunday with six tallies in the first frame.
The Orange’s block had their flashes earlier in ACC play, but it was rather the Wolfpack that dominated in that facet. Lily Cropper stymied Zharia Harris-Waddy and McLaughlin on consecutive pegs to inch closer to claiming the NC State’s first lead of the game.
It never got out in front, though. Amid a small scare from the Wolfpack, which featured a corner-to-corner Bryant kill, the Orange claimed the first set for the second straight match — this time winning 25-20 courtesy of a McLaughlin bullet, which deflected off Maciejewicz’s fingertips.
Everything that went right for Syracuse on the attack in the first frame went wrong at the start of the second. After attacking at a 30.6% rate in the first, the Orange started their first few points down to -60% off five early attack errors before they reached four points.
“We start off really hot,” George said. “We always talk about mini games, going first to five, first to 10. Being able to execute that more, and at the end, really finish. That’s something we could work on.”
Down 20-14, SU needed a spark. That spark was George, who won it the next mini game.
Following a Maciejewicz ace, George spiked a ball to the back line off an attack that reverberated around the Women’s Building. She notched another kill two points later to trim NC State’s advantage to three.
That wasn’t enough. The Wolfpack never relinquished their advantage and held the Orange to a 6.7% hitting percentage in their 25-20 victory.
“Now, it’s carrying on that momentum, but it’s tough,” Ganesharatnam said. “There are going to be sets that the other team will win. The key is to bounce back from those situations and create momentum.”
The third frame was contested evenly by both sides. To break an 11-11 tie, McLaughlin powered a ball to the right side for her 13th kill of the match. Then, Harris-Waddy punctuated a slam between all six Wolfpack players to extend the lead. Soon, SU went up 17-12, causing NC State head coach Megan Warno-Kearney to call a timeout.
Out of the break, the Orange rode a career-best performance from Yamada. She recorded two improbable diving digs on the same play en route to SU’s 22nd point of the set.
“She has a lot of responsibility on defense,” Ganesharatnam said. “Sometimes when she misses a dig, it’s very obvious. Sometimes when she makes this amount of digs, it gets a little overshadowed.”
That didn’t matter. SU coughed up its 20-13 advantage. It resulted in a 26-24 NC State triumph, after a replay review confirmed a co-block from Jordan Smith and Talia Francom.
Like the third frame, the Wolfpack dominated the fourth from the start, reaching a 6-1 advantage. But SU stormed back behind steady defense. Ramada, George, McLaughlin and Tehya Maeva all reached double-digit digs. Its 91 digs was the most Syracuse reached in any game this season. Soon enough, the Orange had six unanswered points.
That evaporated immediately. It was a game of streaks, and NC State had five in a row of its own. With McLaughlin taking on a defensive role in the fourth frame, she got SU back into the contest, earning her 15th double-double in 26 matches this season. This time around, she had 16 kills and 15 digs.
Syracuse’s defensive effort didn’t make a difference, though. George lofted an attack out of bounds to seal a 25-18 Wolfpack victory.
“At the end of the day, we don’t go into every match knowing that we’re not going to win every match in three sets,” Ganesharatnam said. “Unfortunately, the ending was not what we wanted.”
For the second straight game, the Orange bested their opponent in hitting percentage. Still, NC State’s block made the difference, as SU suffered its seventh straight defeat after its promising start to conference play.
