Syracuse loses ACC opener to No. 4 Louisville in straight sets
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Syracuse last defeated an American Volleyball Coaches Association-ranked opponent nearly eight years ago, taking down then-No. 22 Louisville on the road in five sets.
Now, Louisville has emerged as an Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse, while Syracuse has slipped to the bottom of the ACC standings.
After being swept by Buffalo in its final nonconference match of 2026, SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam knew tougher opponents like the Cardinals were ahead.
“We know it’s an uphill battle against some of the opposing teams, but we also understand it can be an advantage being an underdog sometimes,” Ganesharatnam said. “We really don’t have much to lose against a program like Louisville at this point.”
Ganesharatnam wanted to play open and free to match the feat the Orange accomplished almost a decade ago. But with Louisville’s offense among the ACC’s best and Syracuse coming off a lapse-filled defensive effort against the Bulls, it was a tall task.
And when SU (5-5, 0-1 ACC) hosted No. 4 Louisville (11-2, 1-0 ACC) Friday, the game went as the standings predicted. The Cardinals dominated from start to finish to sweep SU. Syracuse struggled on both sides of the ball, racking up 22 errors and a season-low 23 kills while tallying a .010 hitting percentage.
Ganesharatnam’s game plan seemed to work at first. Kiernan Stamey opened the contest with an attack deflected out of bounds, and an errant dig from Louisville put SU up early. But the Cardinals didn’t stay silent for long.
Marie Laurio — who led the Orange with six kills and nine digs — made a diving save on the next play, only for Syracuse’s attack to be smothered at the net. The block sparked a five-point Cardinal run that featured three SU attacking errors. Louisville’s middle blockers gave the Orange problems all match long, stopping 22 shots and tallying 21 blocks to SU’s two.
The Orange only stopped the bleeding when Louisville committed two consecutive errors.
Despite the early run, Syracuse didn’t appear discouraged. Kills from Charis Burge and Emma Williams tied the game. Then, Louisville responded.
Chloe Chicoine started another five-point run, complemented by two more SU errors. Chicoine leads Louisville’s offense with 182 kills and was second on the Cardinals with eight Friday.
A service error gave SU hope, but a monster eight-point Louisville run shut the door on the first set, giving the Cardinals the 25-9 win.
“We got stuck in a rotation where they really separated themselves and put a lot of pressure on our service team, which was really tough to recover from,” Ganesharatnam said.
Queen Howse made her collegiate debut in the first set and provided defensive assistance after returning from an unspecified injury. Howse made a strong first impression, notching five digs across all three sets.
“It was a great feeling. I was very excited, very grateful to have this opportunity to play,” Howse said. “It was great to be back.”
The second set seemed like more of the same after Louisville jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Syracuse responded strongly. A Stamey kill gave way to a Burge service ace before Abby Nicholson put SU on top with a kill.
Syracuse battled to a 7-6 deficit before the inevitable happened. A six-point run featuring three consecutive SU errors gave Louisville a five-point lead. Syracuse struggled to stay out of its own way Friday, committing 22 errors, its most in a three-set contest all season.
The Cardinals entered the break with a 15-9 lead and wasted little time extending it when play resumed. SU cut into the lead, but another run, this time eight points, put the second set out of reach.
A Laurio kill started the third set on a positive note for SU, but similar to the first two sets, the lead didn’t last long. Louisville rattled off another five-point run, taking a four-point lead early in the frame. Another four-point streak left the Cardinals nearing a sweep.
But despite trailing by nine, SU dug in.
A four-point burst cut the lead to five before Louisville recovered with a kill. But Syracuse wasn’t done. Another four-point streak, including three kills from Stamey, brought the Orange within two.
Yet with the Women’s Building crowd rising, SU faltered. A three-point Louisville run — interrupted by a service error — wrapped things up.
The Orange struggled to find offense all evening. Burge, a focal point of the offense so far, was held to a season-low 14 assists. Stamey, who’s been Syracuse’s top hitter, notched a season-low five kills.
As SU’s ACC losing streak reached 12, Ganesharatnam knows more tough opponents are coming.
“We’re gonna face teams like Louisville. Matter of fact, we’re gonna face them on Sunday and next Friday and next Sunday,” Ganesharatnam said. “We gotta stay together, we gotta rely on each other and we gotta trust each other because we can only be competitive in this league if we do it together.”
