1st set woes doom Syracuse volleyball in 3-0 loss to Notre Dame
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Two days after a debilitating loss to No. 4 Louisville, the energy in the Women’s Building shifted.
After being swept at the hands of the Cardinals, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top scoring offense, Syracuse had a shot at redemption Sunday. Facing a Notre Dame team that sat two spots below them in the ACC standings, the Orange had plenty of reasons to feel good heading into the matchup.
As Syracuse took the court during warmups Sunday, it looked loose and confident. The Orange had an opportunity to rebound from two consecutive sweeps and didn’t intend to waste it.
SU had dropped the first set in five of its 10 matches entering Sunday. As the Orange struggled settling into the first set and the energy didn’t change, the result didn’t.
It all stemmed from first set woes, which doomed Syracuse (5-6, 0-2 ACC) as Notre Dame (4-7, 1-1 ACC) took advantage early with a 25-17 opening set win. That set the tone for the rest of Sunday. Syracuse committed eight first-set attack errors and couldn’t muster offensive consistency throughout the frame.
“We need to work on consistency,” SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said postgame.
The set started with an early miscommunication. As Notre Dame returned a Syracuse attack, setter Charis Burge threw her hands up to stop the attack as Marie Laurio dove behind her, presuming it would go over Burge. But Burge’s defense was successful, and the ball went high and backward for no one to receive.
On the second point, Abby Nicholson attempted to tip a ball across the tape, but Notre Dame’s block was ready. They rejected the offering, and Syracuse couldn’t respond, giving the Fighting Irish an early two-point advantage.
A Notre Dame service error swung momentum in the Orange’s favor, and they capitalized. Kiernan Stamey’s first attack of the afternoon was successful to knot things at two, even after a Notre Dame challenge. A preceding block from Nicholson and Stamey gave SU its first lead, but it was short-lived.
A Keila Gabriel attack error evened the score at three, and an ensuing Mae Kordas following kill put Notre Dame ahead. While two service errors and a Laurio kill gave SU a slim lead, ND wouldn’t relent. A Sydney Helmers kill got the Fighting Irish started, and a Laurio attack error gave Notre Dame a one-point lead.
Hemlers wasn’t done. A second kill, followed by kills from Grace Langer and Chichi Nnaji, gave Notre Dame a four-point advantage at 10-6. Interrupted briefly by an attack error, Nnaji’s second kill was followed by an authoritative block that gave Notre Dame firm control of the set.
Notre Dame’s block was an issue for Syracuse, especially in the first set. Notre Dame outblocked SU 4-2 in the set.
“We knew we needed to challenge them with different looks, give them different shots, attack the outskirts of the block,” Ganesharatnam said. “But in order to do that, we need to be really stable on serve receive and aggressive on serving. Today, we were not very stable in those areas.”
Notre Dame didn’t have similar struggles. Helmers, who leads the Irish with 123 kills, accounted for four in the first frame. She nailed her second before two consecutive SU attack errors handed Notre Dame a 15-8 lead at the media break.
Syracuse gained some momentum out of the break as a Stamey kill and Notre Dame attack error closed the gap. A Mae Kordas kill preserved ND’s lead, but SU wasn’t going down easily. A pair of Nicholson and Stamey kills brought the lead within four, but Kordas responded with another point. Kordas had five in the first frame, leading the Fighting Irish with nine overall.
A Nicholson attack error forced Ganesharatnam to call timeout. But when play resumed, Notre Dame picked up right where it left off. A Nnaji kill and a Kordas service ace put it up eight.
ND’s eight-point lead remained throughout the set, and it grabbed an easy 25-17 win.
Even when Syracuse could break through the stout Notre Dame block, attack errors hindered its production. SU accounted for eight attack errors and mustered nine kills to ND’s 16. Despite recording just three fewer attack attempts than the Fighting Irish, Syracuse’s efficiency was abysmal. It was outhit at a 34.3% clip to 3.1% and struggled to adapt to ND’s block.
“It’s an adjustment (going into ACC play), but being able to find our rhythm is important,” Burge said.
Notre Dame exploited Syracuse’s inconsistencies and ran away with the first set. It set a tone for the rest of the match as Syracuse’s struggles continued.
After being swept three times in a row, Syracuse hosts top-five SMU and Pittsburgh next weekend, and its first ACC weekend didn’t have much to show for.
“We got to keep working and embracing the challenge and finding ways to put ourselves in a position where we can compete at a high level,” Ganesharatnam said.
