Syracuse downs Duke in 4 sets

Syracuse (19-7, 10-5 Atlantic Coast) beat Duke (13-12, 8-7) in four sets in Durham, North Carolina on Friday.

Syracuse out-blocked the Blue Devils 13-3 over the course of the match and converted on 55 kills, to the tune of a .266 hitting percentage.

Silvi Uattara and Monika Salkute were offensive catalysts in the Orange’s victory. Uattara led the team with 17 kills and was closely followed by Salkute, who had 14. Setter Gosia Wlaszczuk created the bulk of the opportunities for the two leaders in kills, setting 42 assists on the day.

On the defensive side of the ball, libero Belle Sand contributed a team-leading 23 digs.

The Orange staked itself to a 2-0 lead early in the match but fell apart in the third set. Syracuse committed six errors and had a match-low .086 killing percentage while a resurgent Duke went on a run. The Blue Devils out-killed Syracuse 16-9 in the third set for a killing percentage of .275, their match high.

Syracuse reacted strongly from its rough performance in the third to put the match away. The Orange killed at a match-high rate of .381 percent in the fourth, hammering home 18 kills en route to its 19th win of the season.

The win in Durham maintains Syracuse’s sixth-place spot in the ACC regular-season standings. The Orange will stay in North Carolina, traveling to Winston-Salem for its game on Sunday against 13th-place Wake Forest (11-15, 3-13) at 1 p.m.