Kelly Morrisroe called her team’s pair of games this weekend ‘must-wins,’ but even after dropping both, Syracuse remains in position to qualify for the Big East tournament.

A 3-1 loss to Louisville (19-7, 11-1 Big East) on Saturday and a 3-0 loss Sunday to Cincinnati (20-8, 10-2 Big East) has the Orange (17-11, 6-6 Big East) sitting at sixth place in the Big East with two games remaining. Eight teams qualify for the Big East tournament later in November.

SU put itself in good position to upset the first-place Cardinals on Saturday after taking advantage of a 15-5 run to win the opening set 25-12.

But Louisville righted the ship. With the score tied at 18 in the second set, Syracuse had a chance to take a commanding two-set lead, but the Cardinals had five kills down the stretch to tie the match at one set apiece.

After that, Louisville cruised to the win. The Cardinals made short work of the Orange in the third set with a 25-11 victory and then finished the match in the fourth set with a 25-18 victory.

Syracuse’s struggles continued Sunday against Cincinnati. The Bearcats, the second-place team in the conference, swept the Orange and dominated in all three sets. Cincinnati held SU to 14, 11 and 13 points in the three sets.

Sitting at .500, Syracuse controls its own destiny with two home games this weekend. The Orange takes on DePaul (7-20, 3-9 Big East) on Friday at 7 p.m. and meets fourth-place Notre Dame (15-9, 8-4 Big East) Sunday at noon at the Women’s Building.

—Compiled by David Wilson, staff writer, dbwilson@syr.edu

Published on November 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm