Syracuse volleyball beats Cornell 3-2 in thriller for 3rd straight win
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
No matter how good a player is, they make mistakes. And when rattled, mistakes beget mistakes.
That’s what Kiernan Stamey experienced during Saturday night’s game against Cornell. The usually consistent outside hitter couldn’t limit attacking errors throughout the match, ending with a 40% share of the team’s 35 mishaps.
A top offensive player in a devastating rut would spell disaster for many teams. But Keila Gabriel and Emma Williams’ double-digit kills, Charis Burge’s 50 assists and Yuka Urano’s season-high 23 digs helped picked up the slack.
A balanced effort propelled Syracuse (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) to a thrilling five-set win over Cornell (1-2, 0-0 Ivy League) Saturday. Sloppy play on both sides kept the match close, but the Big Red made the last mistake. Stamey broke through her dry spell late, recording her first double-double of the year with 14 kills and 12 digs.
“Certainly not pretty; there were times where the performance and quality were not up to the status we wanted,” SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said after the match. “However, the team stayed together, worked together, focused on the basics and showed a lot of resiliency.”
The opening set foreshadowed the ensuing blunder-filled game.
Despite thoroughly controlling offensive production with 17 kills to Cornell’s 10, SU couldn’t pull away from the Big Red. Stamey’s third attacking error capped off SU’s six attacking errors in the first set, which allowed Cornell to tie things at 22.
Late heroics from Gabriel and Abby Nicholson gave the Orange a two-point cushion. It was the first of many clutch kills by the Orange’s depth pieces. After a Cornell error, Syracuse won the set 25-22.
In the middle sets, mistakes piled up for both teams. Syracuse couldn’t limit its attacking errors while Cornell’s serves harmlessly hit twine or flew over the Orange’s heads.
The beginning of the second set went back-and-forth, as each team traded errors for the first 15 points. SU had difficulty hitting the ball inbounds, and Cornell whiffed on serves. Syracuse accumulated five points from Cornell service errors and an ace before recording a kill.
However, Syracuse’s offense managed just 10 kills in the second set after recording 17 in the first. It also hit 5.9% after hitting 22.9% in the first set.
But after another Nicholson kill, the teams were still tied at 23. The fifth-year middle blocker had nine kills on the night. Nicholson’s heroics, however, were for naught as SU’s defense was caught flat-footed twice to hand Cornell the set 25-23.
Syracuse kept Cornell at arm’s length the entire third set, taking advantage of the Big Red’s resurfaced service issues to go up 24-22. But with the set point within grasp, another error and defensive lapse tied the game.
Another heroic moment was required when Bella Rodriguez, who hadn’t recorded a kill on four attack attempts at that point, entered the game.
A Cornell miscue gave SU a set point again, and Rodriguez seemed determined not to let it slip away again. She couldn’t get it done on the first four attempts, but on her fifth she hit a weak point at Cornell’s defense to restore Syracuse’s lead.
After a deflating set loss, it seemed Cornell wouldn’t hang on much longer. The Big Red were without their top libero, Sara Pomar, after she sustained an injury against UAlbany earlier Saturday. They’d already played eight sets and were down 2-1, so they started fast next set.
The Big Red jumped ahead 4-0 early and didn’t stop. Cornell’s offense put up a near-perfect 13 kill, 30% hitting frame.
SU couldn’t have been further from that, committing 10 errors for an abysmal -2.9% hitting rate. The Orange fumbled for a response, but by the time they had one, Cornell was sitting on set point up 11.
The Orange hadn’t lost to Cornell since Oct. 24, 2006 – a folly pre-dating the iPhone’s announcement by three months. SU needed another response to keep it that way, and got one.
Syracuse’s offensive depth had been producing throughout the game, softening the impact of individual mistakes.
Gabriel led the way with a career-high 16 kills, while Emma Williams wasn’t far behind with 14.
SU fell behind early in the fifth set, but Gabriel quickly tied it at three before extending the lead to two. Stamey added two kills before Williams put Syracuse up three.
A successful challenge by Ganesharatnam put SU up 12-7. Bo Nijenhuis’ sixth kill moved the Orange within one of victory.
Fittingly, the mistake-riddled game ended with a Cornell error to give Syracuse its third straight win in as many days, flipping an 0-2 start into a 3-2 revival.
There were questions in the preseason as to how Syracuse would replace Gabriella McLaughlin’s 418 kills, but Ganesharatnam said it wouldn’t be just one player replacing her.
“We need to have multiple hitters produce for us,” Ganesharatnam said. “We want to try to incorporate all our pins into the offense as much as we can.”
In dire moments, Syracuse’s hitters didn’t shrink away from the challenge. They embraced it together and saved Syracuse from disaster.
