Jing Pu couldn’t help but crack a smile. With things going well for Syracuse in the first set Sunday, the usually stoic Pu was comfortable showing some emotion.

But as things began to unravel for the Orange against Georgetown later on, Pu’s smile disappeared, and he reverted back to his low-key demeanor.

‘He gets excited when we do great things, and I think he’s maybe more passive when we don’t,’ senior Noemie Lefebvre said.

Syracuse (13-7, 3-2 Big East) earned a statement victory over one of the top teams in the Big East in Villanova (12-7, 4-2) on Friday, but couldn’t pick up a second conference win over the Hoyas (10-9, 2-4). The Orange played a complete match to defeat the Wildcats for Pu’s 100th career Big East win, but on Sunday, Syracuse struggled to finish sets, leaving the door open for big Georgetown runs to shock the Orange in front of 227 at the Women’s Building.

For Syracuse, it was just the latest example of the Orange’s inability to finish matches that go the full five sets.

‘It’s definitely safe to say that we have an issue with five-set matches,’ setter Laura Homann said. ‘We are not successful in them. We need to know that, and we need to avoid five-set matches if at all possible if we can’t change it.’

For most of the first set, though, it appeared as if SU would cruise to a victory over the Hoyas. After a kill by Nicolette Serratore put Syracuse up 22-18, Georgetown called a timeout to stop the Orange’s momentum. Pu then ran onto the court with the smile still on his face, giving the Orange players his approval with a thumbs-up.

But after a 25-21 victory in the first set, SU lost its momentum and started to beat itself. With the scored tied at 12 in the second set, Georgetown put together a dominant 9-3 run to take the set 25-18.

Coming out of the intermission, Syracuse made some changes. The Orange put all three seniors out on the court as Erin Little entered the game for the first time in the match.

The veteran presence didn’t help.

SU committed seven errors in the third set as Georgetown used an early 6-2 run and a late 4-0 run to take a one-set lead with a 25-20 victory.

The fourth set was the polar opposite for Syracuse. The Orange appeared to make a statement with a .31 hitting percentage as SU cruised to a dominant 25-16 victory.

But the struggles reappeared for the Orange in the dreaded fifth set. After Syracuse took a 4-3 lead, the Hoyas scored five unanswered points. The Orange kept battling and eventually tied the score at 12, but SU let the set slip away 15-13.

The loss was even more difficult for Syracuse to take because of the emotional high the Orange was riding after its victory over Villanova.

Syracuse jumped out to a two-set lead against the Wildcats for the fourth straight Big East match. Even with the early lead, the Orange knew it couldn’t relax. In SU’s last home conference match against South Florida, the team went up two sets only to fall in five.

After Villanova won the third set and held a lead late into the fourth, assistant coach Kelly Morrisroe was worried she was seeing another late-game collapse.

‘I’m thinking Utah Valley, I’m thinking USF,’ Morrisroe said. ‘We’ve struggled to finish lately. … I’m just really proud of the way that our girls, in the middle of the fourth set, seemed to kind of buckle down and really focus on our game plan.’

SU’s senior leadership took over during a back-and-forth fourth set. Lefebvre contributed back-to-back kills and multiple digs to end Syracuse’s fourth-set struggles.

But despite the victory over Villanova, it was tough for SU to be entirely proud of its entire weekend performance. The team’s emotions were high after the win Friday night, but were subdued following Sunday’s loss.

‘You have such a great win over a team like Villanova, and it could be a match like this that could come to haunt us,’ Morrisroe said. ‘It’s going to come down to every match. You can’t let one match slip away and think that it’s not a big deal because we won’t feel the effects of it today, but we will in November.’

dbwilson@syr.edu