Syracuse volleyball’s Annie Bozzo fills in as serve specialist

With Syracuse’s lead over Northwestern becoming unstable due to back-to-back attack errors by Anastasiya Gorelina and uncertainty from the serve position, head coach Leonid Yelin subbed in two players.

In came setter Annie Bozzo, whose job was solely to correct the second problem.

Due to the graduation of four seniors, Bozzo, a serving specialist, was still trying to establish her place on the court. With Syracuse (1-9) then off to a 1-6 start and coming off one its toughest, yet season-defining losses to then-No. 17 Penn State, the Orange was still trying to solve its inability to serve with consistently.

“Coach has been really adamant about our serve,” Bozzo said, “and serve receive and getting that first touch so that we can run our offense.”

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Many serves have hit the net, gone too long or, in some cases, skewed to the left or right, costing the team valuable points and killing momentum that Syracuse might have had in the process.

Bozzo, who is a natural setter, has played sparingly during the season, mostly as a back-up setter behind Jalissa Trotter, who solidified the position early in the year.

Even without a defined position, Bozzo still wanted to play in whatever capacity that she could.

“Wherever coach needs me I’ll play, I’ll be ready,” Bozzo said. “I’ve been training more on defense, more on serve receive, and my serve has gotten a lot better this year.”

Bozzo’s serve is fast and low to the net, allowing her to separate herself from other servers and cause more attack errors from the opponent, usually in the form of aces.

With that improved and consistent serve, Yelin has designated Bozzo as a serve specialist and found a role for her on a team that has most of its positions locked up. Last year, Bozzo played setter and libero, a defensive specialist, but this year, Yelin changed things up.

“In the last tournament (Nebraska Invite), we tried different things, you know (with) so many new people,” Yelin said. “We didn’t even know (if) the systems (were going to) work well for us … so we wanted to use other two (setters Dana Valelly and Bozzo) if not (at) setter (and) see what else they doing good.”

Following the tournament, Yelin had inserted her as a serve-specialist against Penn State to try to disrupt the momentum that shifted the Nittany Lions’ way as they were easily handling Syracuse’s serves and turning them into points. When Bozzo subbed in, Penn State still handled the ball, but her play was more effective than her fellow servers.

“You kind of have to just take a step back and realize, ‘This is my job, I’ve been ready, I’ve been training for this moment,’” Bozzo said. “Just look at it like any other game and just go in and do your job.”

When Yelin put Bozzo in against Northwestern needing a spark on serves, Bozzo took her position in the top right corner of the court and with a jump forward, served the ball. It was an ace.

She had done her job.