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It’s the standard in volleyball to deploy two outside hitters. Before each serve, one stands in front on the left side with the other perched directly behind. Teams also situate a middle blocker, libero, setter and right-side hitter.

In sports such as soccer and basketball, their positionless nature gives players much more flexibility. Volleyball’s stricter. There are six spots where players must be positioned.

When a team has more talented outside hitters than it knows what to do with, that rigidity can become an issue.

That’s why Syracuse (6-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) has employed different strategies to give its outside hitters playing time in its undefeated start. With boundless depth, it’s difficult to simultaneously play seasoned veterans Gabriella McLaughlin and Skylar George and freshmen Marie Laurio and Elizabeth Turner. But SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam is making it work.

“We have four really good outside hitters that are competing, and they all have very good qualities that they bring to the table that will help us compete at a high level,” Ganesharatnam said.

Nobody on the Orange matches McLaughlin’s power and velocity. She’s played nearly every point through six matches and has successfully filled the void of Ava Palm, last year’s kill leader. McLaughlin has already earned Most Valuable Player honors at the Salt City Classic and UAlbany Invitational.

“She has the heart of a lion. She wants to compete. However, we have to find a way to distribute the sets a little more evenly,” Ganesharatnam said of his star. “She had 61 attempts. We’re not going to survive the season with that. Neither is her shoulder.”

McLaughlin’s 80 kills so far make it hard to take her off the floor, and she’s become a fixture on the front left. It’s the back left where things get tricky.

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On Aug. 29 against Niagara, Ganesharatnam started Laurio. She notched four kills across the first two sets, but she still committed five errors.

Meanwhile, George sat on the bench. She started 28 of 32 matches with 258 kills in 2024, but she had to wait this time. It didn’t matter. In the second set, with the teams knotted at 16 apiece, she replaced Laurio and fired off four kills in the third frame en route to a sweep.

The Orange beat Rider the following day, with Laurio starting again. But this time, George didn’t enter the match until the fourth set.

“We talked after the third set, and we said we just needed energy. We gotta want it. And I was just ready on the bench,” George said.

George’s six kills throughout the set guided SU to victory. She excelled in her role as the closer, but it didn’t matter who was on the court. Syracuse was comfortable at outside hitter regardless.

“(I’m) pretty sure (George’s) mission is to be a starter. I hope so, right? And that’s the good thing,” Ganesharatnam said. “That shows you the nature of her competitiveness, and that’s what we want for her.”

Ganesharatnam said George’s role could change after playing Rider, and it did. In wins over Le Moyne, UAlbany, Canisius and Cornell, George reclaimed her starting spot. She appeared in every set and delivered double-digit kills in the Orange’s last three matches. The redshirt sophomore paced the Orange with 18 kills against the Big Red, just one tally short of her career-high.

As George starred, Laurio waited patiently. The Michigan native watched from the sideline against the Dolphins and barely appeared at the UAlbany Invitational.

“Something Coach (Ganesharatnam) has talked about a lot recently is, even if you’re on the bench, you need to be ready to come on the court and do your job,” Laurio said. “Even if you’re on the bench, (just) cheering and doing your best wherever you are.”

Syracuse typically deploys its setter in the back-right corner. When Turner’s in, though, that’s her spot.

Setting isn’t Turner’s game. She’s explosive at the net. But setters Tehya Maeva and Veronica Sierzant have played in the frontcourt, which has worked to Syracuse’s advantage. The setters and Turner hug the right side and move back and forth throughout each point, allowing her to attack the ball up front like a right-side hitter.

In Turner’s debut against Niagara, her 11 digs were Syracuse’s second-most. The Arkansas native appeared in the Orange’s first nine sets and registered seven kills.

But during the UAlbany Invitational, she saw minimal playing time across her three sets on the court. SU has opted for formations with two simultaneous setters in Maeva and Sierzant or two middle blockers in Zharia Harris-Waddy and Soana Lea’ea. No matter what the Orange do, the wins keep piling.

“We just encourage everybody to compete and practice hard, and then, based on the matchups for the weekends and based on their practice performance, we switch them in and out,” Ganesharatnam said.

Positional switches are strenuous in volleyball. With most outside hitters being taught to kill from their left, it’s a drastic transition to pound the rock from the right.

It’s impossible to have everyone see the court at the same time. But Ganesharatnam sees a way to make everyone happy. He can sleep well at night knowing he has a plethora of pieces to rotate, and no matter who he chooses, he can’t possibly go wrong.

“It’s a great position to be in as a coach,” Ganesharatnam said.

Published on September 8, 2025 at 10:10 pm
jaglick@syr.edu | @jason_glick