SU rallies back from down 2-0 to complete comeback over Cornell
Syracuse rebounded from dropping the first two sets against Cornell to notch its sixth win of the year. Joshua Greene | Contributing Photographer
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Syracuse volleyball played its first ever match in 1972. Its opponent? Cornell at a neutral site, where the Orange dispatched the Big Red.
In 1974, they did it again. SU repeated the trend the following year, and in 1976, it took down Cornell twice. In fact, the Orange’s first nine contests against the Big Red were all victories at neutral sites.
There’s been much turnover in the past 50 years within Syracuse’s program since that winning streak. But one thing that has stayed constant. The Orange are still putting the Big Red to sleep at neutral sites. SU boasted a 36-9-1 all-time record over its central New York foe before Saturday’s contest.
While Syracuse won its first nine matches over Cornell, a victory Saturday would extend its most recent streak — which began in 2007 — to that number, too.
And it did. Syracuse (6-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) reigned victorious against Cornell (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) as it merited a victory in five sets. Despite trailing 2-0, the Orange fought back to claim the win and stay undefeated on the year.
The Orange entered triumphant in their first six frames at the UAlbany Invitational in wins over UAlbany and Canisius and hadn’t dropped a set in their 10.
That changed Saturday, when the Big Red’s element of surprise came in the first two sets. The Orange had only dropped one frame all season. But Saturday, they surrendered two in a row.
The first set began with Cornell in the driver’s seat and Syracuse in the caboose. After Zharia Harris-Waddy’s two-handed push shot knotted the frame at four, the Big Red brought more intensity.
But Syracuse stayed close. Gabriella McLaughlin has been the engine behind its undefeated train. She shook three Big Red players by weaving a gap, and SU’s captain followed it up by curling a ball around a corner to bring the Orange within one at 11-10.
Still, Cornell embarked on a hefty run, anchored by SU’s errors. Soana Lea’ea and Marie Laurio both committed faults. The Orange’s seven first-set errors and putrid 14.6% attack rate were the worst of any frame. They ultimately lost the final point after a Tehya Maeva botched serve, giving the Big Red a 25-18 victory.
The Orange flipped to the right side of the court determined to start fast. A McLaughlin serve caught Nicole Mallus off guard to tie the set at two. Then, Sydnie Waller batted a ball down at the feet of middle blocker Mackenzie Parsons. A 3-2 deficit turned into a 6-3 advantage.
After a Parsons kill that put the Big Red in front 19-17, SU launched its best stretch yet. Skylar George split the ball down the middle between Sarita Pomar and outside hitter Haley Clark to generate the first of five straight points.
The Orange were then up 24-22. But could they finish the job? Nope. The errors that haunted Syracuse early on in the match came back to bite them. An Emma Ortiz serve landed outside the field of play. A beautiful set by Veronica Sierzant that Harris-Waddy couldn’t finish. In a win-by-two situation, the Big Red took the second set 27-25, as Harris-Waddy was stymied by Clark.
In its most feeble point in its season, SU reached for the stars and did what it had done best against inferior opponents early on — break through in the middle of the set.
Things started rough. Rana Yamada dove for a low ball from outsider hitter Eliza Konvicka that she couldn’t plop over the net. She attempted a split two points later and whiffed at an Ava Bogan spike.
Slowly but surely, the Orange weaved their way back into the match. They unleashed a four-point streak after trailing 9-7, which started with a loft from George. She maneuvered the ball from a cross-body position from left to shallow right, the precursor to SU’s eventual set victory, as it won 25-15.
The first point is everything in a set. It dictates how a frame will go. In the first three sets, Syracuse didn’t win the first rally. It took four tries to take the first point, as Harris-Waddy hooked a ball that both Pomar and Clark couldn’t control.
The hook shot trend continued later, as Harris-Waddy set McLaughlin on her hook that powered the Orange to a 10-6 advantage. Syracuse was poised and disciplined. Zero errors. A 51.6% attack percentage.
SU rebounded by using two setters in hefty roles, which it hadn’t done since its first victory of 2025 against Niagara. Maeva and Sierzant, who especially shined in the fourth set with six assists each, made all the difference, and Maeva found a cutting George for the set-clinching kill to win 25-17.
Syracuse had flipped the pressure on Cornell to close the match, and it couldn’t follow through. For the first time of the campaign, SU played a fifth set, and it was ready.
George and Lea’ea finished off four kills to alleviate the Orange of their early 3-2 deficit. It was over from that point. The frame was another prime example of strong discipline on one end, and at 14-11, Konvicka’s fault on a serve at game point helped Syracuse etch its name into a rich history of triumphs against Cornell. It was responsible for one of 37 all-time victories over the Big Red, and its undefeated stretch rolls on into the second week of September.
