Syracuse downed by No. 3 BYU in three sets

Syracuse (2-1) started off its time at the Marquette Tournament against No. 3 Brigham Young University (BYU) and the Cougar team (7-0) lived up to its billing, winning the game 3-0 in Milwaukee, WI. BYU was coming off a weekend where they beat then-No. 1 Stanford 3-2.

Despite not winning a single set, Syracuse played competitively. The Orange never trailed by more than six throughout all three sets. In the first set, despite going down by six, SU went on an 8-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. BYU ultimately came back, however, winning the set 25-23.

Syracuse jumped out to a 9-7 lead in the second set and it went back and forth until the set was tied 15-15. That’s when BYU went on a quick 4-0 run and soon put the set away 25-20. The third set was almost all BYU. Syracuse never took hold of the lead despite never trailing by more than five and ultimately losing 25-20.

BYU had only five more kills than Syracuse, but overall played a much cleaner game. Syracuse made double the amount of errors (24-12) and also finished with a much lower hitting percentage at .151 versus BYU at .303.

BYU’s Roni Jones-Perry recorded a game-high 16 kills, followed closely by teammate McKenna Miller who finished with 15. Syracuse was once again led by freshman Polina Shemanova with 14 kills while sophomore Ella Saada finished with 13.

Syracuse remains in Milwaukee all weekend, next playing #10 USC at 3 p.m. on Saturday before facing off with #25 Marquette Sunday at 1 p.m.