Since the beginning of the season, Syracuse’s goal was to make the Big East tournament.

Now that the goal is a reality, the Orange is not content for settling on making it to the tournament in Milwaukee, Wis. The players said they’re ready to make some noise.

‘We’re excited, we’re just ready to go,’ SU defensive specialist Ashley Williams said. ‘We don’t want it to be like the past few years where we went to the first round and ended up losing. We definitely want to advance farther than that this year.’

After missing the conference tournament as part of a collapse down the stretch last season, SU returns to the tourney in 2011. In its last trip in 2009, Syracuse lost in the first round to Louisville. The Orange (19-11, 8-6 Big East) kicks off Big East tournament play at the Al McGuire Center at Marquette on Friday against Notre Dame (15-11, 8-6) at 11 a.m., after defeating the Irish in the last game of the regular season on Sunday.

Though facing a team SU beat less than a week ago could be a benefit, the Orange doesn’t feel it gives the team too much of a lift.

‘Both teams are going to look different,’ SU outside hitter Noemie Lefebvre said. ‘They didn’t have all of their starters on Sunday, so their team’s going to look a little different and our team may look a little different as well.’

There are undoubtedly some added benefits. But the benefits of familiarity are not restricted to Syracuse.

The advantages are also more for the coaches than they are for the players.

‘It’s a little bit better from a coaching standpoint,’ SU interim head coach Kelly Morrisroe said. ‘We are prepared. We didn’t have to go over a new game plan or talk about different things. We didn’t even have a film session (Tuesday) because we’ve just played them. There’s been no one else since we’ve played Notre Dame.’

And though the Orange is keeping things on a game-by-game basis as it has all season, for Syracuse to capitalize on its new goal of winning games at the Big East tournament — and potentially advancing to the NCAA tournament — it’s going to take more than just beating the Fighting Irish.

This is something Morrisroe acknowledges. She is keeping players focused on Notre Dame for now, but she is ready to prepare if the Orange advances to take on the winner of the Louisville-Pittsburgh match later in the day.

‘We have all of our equipment with us,’ Morrisroe said. ‘I’ve got game plans from each of our teams that we’ve played so far in the Big East, so we’ll take it one game at a time, and if we need to Friday night, get back in the hotel and get down to work and talk about what we need to do for Saturday’s match.’

To advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, Syracuse needs to make those game-by-game preparations count. Morrisroe believes the Orange will have to win the Big East tournament and receive an automatic bid to the tournament to advance. Its record alone likely isn’t good enough.

More importantly, though, is keeping the offense consistent, as it was last weekend in wins over DePaul and the Fighting Irish.

The defense has been among the best in the Big East all season long, but it wasn’t until Emily Betteridge became a constant contributor in the Syracuse starting lineup that the offense finally started clicking.

‘It’s a lot about communication,’ said Betteridge, the middle setter. ‘Each game it gets better and better, and that’s what I’m hoping for, so I think it’s going well, and I’m really happy about it.’

Win or lose, the Orange has had its own little triumph in one of the most chaotic seasons in recent memory.

When longtime head coach Jing Pu was fired with less than a month remaining in the regular season, it was a shock. But with SU going 6-3 since the coaching switch and heading to Marquette for postseason play, the risky shake-up appears to have worked out.

‘The season has been an interesting ride, I think,’ Lefebvre said. ‘We’re happy to go and we’re happy with the way it ended that we were able to position ourselves also well in the Big East and have a chance to move forward.’

dbwilson@syr.edu