Syracuse stays competitive, falls to No. 6 Stanford in straight sets
Syracuse was swept by No. 6 Stanford Sunday despite having strong starts to each set. The Orange were beaten at the serve 10-1 by the Cardinal. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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The Women’s Building was packed for Syracuse’s Friday victory over California. After the Orange lost the second leg of a home-and-home with Colgate on Sept. 13, SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam called for more fan support.
With Syracuse football on its bye week, the Orange faithful saw this weekend as an opportunity to appease Ganesharatnam’s request and turned to social media. Superfans Mike Patteson and Tony Dinicola organized a burger tailgate, and fans showed up decked out in pink for SU’s Breast Cancer Awareness match.
The crowd brought the energy and propelled Syracuse over the Golden Bears, which it failed to do at the Women’s Building and in Berkeley last year. It was SU’s first-ever win over Cal, and with the victory, Syracuse matched its conference win total from the year prior.
On Sunday, there may not have been the same fan camaraderie Syracuse had for its ACC home opener, but fans still showed up and showed out with nearly parallel energy. SU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams and its men’s soccer team were in attendance courtside.
But a boisterous crowd isn’t enough to top arguably the best collegiate volleyball program of all-time.
Syracuse (11-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) was swept by No. 6 Stanford (14-3, 5-1 ACC) Sunday in a match where the crowd didn’t make a difference for the Cardinal. In fact, the attendance of 344 was tied for the least number of people Stanford has played in front of this campaign. In its loss to No. 1 Nebraska, 15,734 people were in attendance.
Still, the crowd made a difference for SU, and it was competitive from the get-go. When they lost to then-No. 6 Louisville, the Orange registered single-digit points in a set for the first time this season. Syracuse made sure history didn’t repeat itself against the Cardinal, striking first to begin each set of the match.
A few points after Syracuse opened the scoring, Skylar George perfectly placed a spike that skimmed the back-left line to trim the Cardinal advantage to 4-3. While Stanford flirted with its lead, the Orange quietly built their way back into the set.
Six straight points pushed SU to a dominant lead over a program that’s won nine national titles, and Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly was shocked. The ninth-year frontman called a timeout following Oreva Evivie’s flick at the ground and George’s ball into the back-left corner.
SU held onto its lead for a bit longer, determined to go down swinging. On one of its most impressive volleys of the year, the ball went back and forth across each side of the court over 10 times, until Stanford’s Julia Blyashov finally found SU’s back corner to cut its advantage to 12-9.
Blyashov, who registered nine kills on 33 attempts Sunday, jumpstarted a five-point Stanford run. The Orange remained deadlocked in a back-and-forth battle until the Cardinal’s service became too overwhelming. Elia Rubin recorded one of her three aces to flesh out Stanford’s advantage to 18-15, and it wouldn’t surrender that lead. Stanford’s seven first-set aces guided it to a 25-15 victory, closing out a nine-point run.
Gabriella McLaughlin came out with fire out of the break and sent the ball off the hands of Logan Parks, and it traveled to the upper deck. A service ace from Reese Teves — who leads SU in the category — doubled the Orange’s early advantage.
The back-and-forth game continued, as Stanford was able to claw back into the frame due to SU’s poor attack. Against the Cardinal, Syracuse registered its second-worst attack percentage this season at 7.1%.
Stanford eventually pulled away because of its feisty 6-foot-5 middle blocker, Lizzy Andrew. She’d throw the volleyball down at the Orange’s backline when it appeared to be too high to get a hand on. Her team-high 10 kills made all the difference, and every time she went up to the net against 5-foot-8 McLaughlin, it was a mismatch. As a result, SU’s kill leader registered a season-low seven tallies.
Andrew’s swing to propel Stanford up 13-11 jumpstarted its run. Rubin then toyed with SU’s backline, lobbing the set’s final two points at McLaughlin, and she failed to control either.
Once again, Syracuse gave itself false hope with yet another strong start, as Soana Lea’ea lofted a ball down at Stanford’s middle blockers to claim the first point. And when the teams knotted at three after a Stanford violation when Jordyn Harvey’s touch hit the net’s antenna, SU looked to be in position to earn its first set against a ranked opponent in four years, before Ganesharatnam became head coach.
The third set included a game-high eight attack errors and a subzero hitting percentage. The Orange were skying their spikes out of bounds, notably on Sydnie Waller’s attempt down 14-9.
To put the icing on the cake for Stanford, it subbed in Sidney Duncan, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Tim Duncan, for her first collegiate kill. Three more points did it for the Cardinal, and they won 25-12.
Stanford is inevitable, as it boasts a 22-4 conference record since joining the ACC. But Syracuse’s early efforts definitely proved it is in a stronger position than it was a year prior.
