Orange preps for grueling Big East slate
As Syracuse volleyball completed a 3-0 sweep of Cornell last week, the Orange bench erupted, visibly pleased by the domination of a lesser opponent. The game marked the conclusion of a non-conference schedule in which SU posted an impressive 10-4 record – a far cry from its 9-8 mark a year ago.
Following the match, the Orange seemed poised and confident to take on the next big step: the Big East schedule.
‘The girls are psyched for Big East play to start,’ assistant coach Carol LaMarche said after Wednesday’s win. ‘It’s been a long four weeks or so, and we’re ready.’
The Orange (11-5, 1-1 Big East) began its grueling conference schedule on Saturday, as SU swiftly took care of West Virginia with a 3-0 win in Morgantown, W.Va.
On Sunday, however, the reality of how competitive this conference is, set in. Syracuse strode into Pittsburgh with heads held high, but the Panthers got the best of SU in a heartbreaking 28-26 victory in the first set. Pitt (10-6, 2-0 Big East) took the next two consecutive sets easily, sweeping the Orange 3-0.
The Orange is fully aware of what lies ahead, as its difficult Big East schedule gets underway. Junior middle blocker Hayley Todd feels that the team’s non-conference schedule was vital in building confidence and exposing various defenses and formations.
‘I think in our (non-conference) schedule, we played a variety of teams that have showed us a lot of different things,’ Todd said. ‘It’s going to get tougher, but I think we’re ready to face those tougher teams.’
Syracuse’s senior captains, middle blocker Sarah Morton and outside hitter Kacie MacTavish, have not seen a great deal of Big East success since arriving at SU in 2006. In their first season, the their four-year tenure, the squad was a mere 5-9 in Big East play, failing to make the conference tournament. Though Syracuse posted identical 8-6 records in the Big East the last two seasons, Louisville has ended its season both times in the first round of the postseason tournament.
Drawing on the past several seasons, Syracuse was ranked ninth in the Big East coming into the 2009 season, after finishing sixth the previous year. Sixteen games into its schedule, only South Florida and Villanova have better overall records than the Orange.
One of the more intriguing match-ups of the upcoming season will take place Oct. 30 when Syracuse travels to Louisville, Ky.
With 12 Big East matches awaiting Syracuse, the Orange knows the rest of the season will be grueling as it attempts to break down one of the elite conferences in the country. If the non-conference results are an indicator of what lies ahead for the Orange, however, SU might just find itself near the top, come mid-November.
With four starters and 11 total letter winners returning, there is reason to believe that Syracuse can finally break though its first-round jitters and make some noise in the Big East conference. And it all starts and finishes with preseason All-Big East selections Morton and MacTavish.
Morton, the national leader in total blocks, believes this team has what it takes to rise up the ranks of the conference not only this year, but in years to come.
‘It will get tougher,’ Morton said. ‘We’ll have better hitters, we’ll have taller hitters, and hitters that are going to be able to hit our block, but I feel like these games will give us more and more experience.’
