Head coach Leonid Yelin reacts to Syracuse missing NCAA tournament

The Syracuse volleyball team has never made the NCAA tournament. On Sunday night, the Orange found out that the program would have to continue its drought.

SU was left out of the tournament after finishing fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, an 11-position improvement from the 2014 season when the Orange finished last.

Head coach Leonid Yelin, who just finished his fourth season with Syracuse, wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but was disappointed.

“I was hoping we would,” Yelin said. “But only one team from each conference can know for sure.”

Four ACC teams made it into the tournament, including Miami, who was behind Syracuse in the ACC standings. The Orange played Miami only once, losing 3-0 on the road. Yelin understood the selection, but wished that his team got the opportunity to play Miami at home.

The Orange had a 1-4 overall against the ACC teams that were selected for the tournament, its only win coming in the last game of the season against No. 15 Louisville.

Outside of the win against Louisville, each team the Orange beat during the season had a worse record than SU did by the end of the season.

Throughout the season, Yelin continually mentioned that SU needed to beat the teams above it if the Orange wanted to be successful.

“All season we’ve said we cannot lose to the bottom teams,” Yelin said. “Those teams we have to beat. The Louisville, Florida State, North Carolina teams, we’re hunting them.”

Yelin said he believed that the team was good enough by the end of the season to make the tournament, but was not consistent enough throughout the year to be a lock.

“We thought we could’ve played better,” Yelin said. “At least five of the matches we lost, we thought we could’ve won. We were peaking at the right time, it just wasn’t enough.”

“Experience, Experience, Experience.”

That’s what Yelin believes Syracuse will miss most next season. The Orange loses kill leaders Silvi Uattara, Nicolette Serratore and Monika Salkute. Furthermore it loses assist leader Gosia Wlaszczuk.

Next season, the Orange already has two scholarship recruits along with two more non-scholarship recruits.

Despite this season’s outcome, Yelin said he is very proud of his team.

Syracuse, which is coming off its first winning season since 2011, will look to build on its success this season as it continues its quest for its first NCAA tournament berth.

“Our record speaks for itself,” Yelin said. “There’s a lot for our kids to be proud of. Hopefully they take it with them going forward.”