Syracuse volleyball falls to Northwestern in 5 sets

Annie Bozzo continued her role as a serve specialist and started out her night with an ace. Outside hitter Mackenzie Weaver continued her strong start to the season with her first career double-double on both sides of the ball with 11 kills and 11 digs. Vocal leader and front-line stalwart Santita Ebangwese returned to the starting lineup and contributed five kills after missing three games due to illness.

It seemed like everything Syracuse needed on the court fell into place. But the second win of the season did not materialize.

Syracuse (1-7) struggled with inconsistency and lost in five sets to Northwestern (7-4) in its first game of the UNI Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa, after starting nearly an hour late due to another five-set game before the match.

Syracuse pulled within three in the first set, the score 15-12. But Northwestern won 10 out of the final 13 points, including the final six to win the set 25-15.

The Orange won a back-and-forth second set, 25-20, and then dropped the third set by the same score.

Facing its seventh loss of the season, SU held on with one of its most dominant sets of the season. Syracuse started out on a 13-4 run and went on to win the fourth set, 25-10.

The momentum did not carry over to the final frame as the Wildcats returned the favor with an 11-4 starting run of their own that Syracuse could not recover from.

Besides her double-double, Weaver also had five blocks and Libero Belle Sand led the team with 12 digs.

The Orange returns to the West Gymnasium in Cedar Falls to face Illinois State at 11 a.m. tomorrow before playing tournament host Northern Iowa Saturday night at 8 p.m.