4 questions Syracuse volleyball must answer in 2026
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On Oct. 22, 2025, Syracuse defeated Boston College 3-2 and improved to 13-6 overall and 5-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. It seemed SU was nearing its first winning season under head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam.
However, the strong start didn’t last.
Two days later, Syracuse lost in straight sets against BC, and the downhill tumble began. The Orange didn’t win again, finishing on an 11-game losing streak to stamp one of its worst seasons under Ganesharatnam.
Following a near-complete roster overhaul, here are four questions Syracuse must answer in search of its first winning season since 2021:
Which new additions step up?
SU returns just one player from 2025, Marie Laurio, and will turn to a plethora of new talent.
Five freshmen and 10 transfers make up the newcomers, with Western Athletic Conference standout setter Mira Ledermueller returning to Syracuse — where she spent her first two collegiate seasons — from UT Arlington.
Ledermueller led the WAC with 943 assists and 9.07 per set. She won WAC Setter of the Week five times and posted a career-high 56 assists against Abilene Christian.
Her return will have an immediate impact for Syracuse, which relied heavily on Tehya Maeva last season, its only 100-plus-assist player.
Among the most impactful transfers is Kiernan Stamey. She spent two seasons at Kennesaw State, compiling 432 kills in 56 matches. In 2025, her 2.33 kills per set ranked third on the Owls, and defensively, she posted 79 digs and 50 blocks.
Another high-impact arrival is Lafayette transfer Abby Nicholson. A fifth-year middle blocker, she led the Leopards with 96 blocks — 1.01 per set — and ranked third with 145 kills.
Who replaces Gabriella McLaughlin as first offensive option?
Gabriella McLaughlin was Syracuse’s heartbeat in 2025. She ranked top five on the team in kills, digs, assists, aces and blocks. Her 418 kills placed seventh in the ACC and were the most in any season under Ganesharatnam.
Stamey makes a good case to be the go-to replacement as a proven scorer with two years of experience. But the Orange have several other options on the wings like Bella Rodriguez, who transferred to Syracuse following an exceptional sophomore campaign at Bucknell. She recorded 189 kills, including a career-high 20-kill onslaught against Navy, and multiple games with double-digit kills.
She ranked third in kills and digs for the Bison and could become the second-string outside hitter behind Stamey.
Aside from Stamey and Rodriguez, Emma Williams and Aileen McAllister provide rotational depth. Williams is a junior Montana transfer who recorded four kills and 17 digs through 47 sets in 2025. McAllister is a freshman from Yokosuka, Japan, who played on the Japanese U17 team. She was named the Inter High National Championship Outstanding Player.
Can Syracuse capitalize on early momentum?
In each of the past two seasons, Syracuse has dominated nonconference play. The Orange held an 8-2 record going into ACC matches last season and went undefeated through 12 games in 2024.
However, SU went 5-15 in conference play last season and won just three conference matches in 2024. This year, Syracuse faces a difficult test off the bat. It plays two challenging Power Four opponents in Cincinnati and Illinois, a step up in competition from past openers, as the two teams floated around .500 last year.
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The pair of matches will set the tone for the nonconference slate that opens with five straight road matches.
If the Orange want success, they must prove they can compete with legitimate competition from the jump to build confidence going into ACC play.
Can Syracuse remedy its poor defense?
To say Syracuse’s defensive statistics from last season were bleak would be an understatement. Opposing defenses capitalized as the Orange conceded the most digs per set and third-most kills per set in the ACC.
The Orange succeeded in digging opposing shots, relying primarily on Rana Yamada, who led the team with 389 digs. The struggles came at the net, where Syracuse ranked 15th in blocks with 2.07 per set.
To address blocking deficiencies, Syracuse brought in two fifth-year veterans in Nicholson and Bo Nijenhuis, who have track records of defensive success at middle blocker.
Nicholson impacts the game on both sides of the ball and gives the Orange flexibility, while Nijenhuis brings five years of amateur experience at Rivo Rijssen, a Dutch club in Dames Superdivisie, the second-highest level in the Netherlands.
Fellow fifth-year defensive specialist/libero Anna Smith also fills the defensive set and brings championship pedigree from Coastal Carolina, as she helped the Chanticleers to the Sun Belt Conference championship in 2023.
With freshmen Emma Faerber and Queen Howse filling middle blocker depth, Syracuse has plenty of blocking options.
With the season looming, Syracuse won’t wait long to learn if the new additions hold up, if the front row is deep enough or whether it faces last year’s fate. Five years after SU’s last winning season, Ganesharatnam and a nearly unrecognizable roster can write their answers on Aug. 29 against Cincinnati.
