Syracuse loses in straight sets at North Carolina State

On Oct. 21, Syracuse senior middle blocker Amber Witherspoon was benched halfway through the match against North Carolina State. SU head coach Leonid Yelin was critical of the way she reacted to his remarks and chose to send her a message.  

“We didn’t see this energy. We didn’t see this fire,” Yelin recalled saying to Witherspoon. “We didn’t see when we were talking to you, you responding.”

Today, The usually dominant Syracuse (17-8, 13-4 Atlantic Coast) block was nullified by NC State (15-12, 9-8) in a 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 straight set loss. The Wolfpack tallied a .264 hit percentage and a total of 55 kills in only three sets.

In the first set, the Orange middle blockers stopped only one NC State attack. The Wolfpack duo of freshman Jade Parchment and senior Teni Sopitan consistently evaded Witherspoon and senior Christina Oyawale. On set point, ahead 24-23, Sopitan fired a hit past Witherspoon’s right arm and over the clenched hands of senior Jalissa Trotter, handing the first set to NC State.

On the very first point of the second set, senior Santita Ebangwese rejected a hit from sophomore Melissa Evans into the floor. She unleashed a scream as her teammates patted her on the back. Yet, that wasn’t a theme for what was to come. NC State spiked 15 kills and held the Orange to a .065 hit percentage. On the final point of the set, Trotter once again couldn’t deflect an NC State hit.

As the third set came to its inevitable finale, Yelin didn’t appear angry. He sat on the bench with his left hand rested on the bottom of his chin. When Parchment crushed the final hit past Ebangwese, he gathered his notes, shook hands with NC State head coach Linda Hampton-Keith and paced towards the locker room.

With only one match remaining on Saturday against Wake Forest, Syracuse is ranked No. 27. Since 2010, only two teams ranked better than No. 40 in RPI have missed the NCAA tournament.