Syracuse powers past Wake Forest 3-1 on senior day

Early in the fourth set in the Women’s Building on senior day it looked like the ball was destined to go out of bounds, last touched by Syracuse. But senior Christina Oyawale dove into the scorer’s table, bumping the ball backward and just narrowly landing on the other side of the net inbounds for the point. In their last home game, seniors stepping up was a common theme for the Orange (18-8, 14-4 Atlantic Coast) in its 3-1 win over Wake Forest (10-20, 5-13).

Though freshman Polina Shemanova led the way with 14 kills, senior Santita Ebangwese chipped in with 13 on a .500 hitting percentage as well as eight blocks. Senior Amber Witherspoon had three kills and five blocks. Jalissa Trotter, also a senior, led the way with 38 assists.

Things got off to a rocky start for SU in the first set. Wake Forest took a 4-3 lead and, despite several runs by Syracuse, never gave it back, winning the set 25-22. That didn’t discourage the Orange but, a big 10-4 run in the second set pushed SU to an early lead it never looked back from. SU cruised to a 25-17 set win.

In the third set, Syracuse went down 19-15 only to storm back on a 10-2 run to take the set 25-21 on a Shemanova kill. In the fourth set, it was back-and-forth early but a 13-6 run by the Orange ended the set with SU ahead 25-16.

Another key player down the stretch in the game was sophomore Ella Saada. She recorded 12 kills on the match along with 2 blocks. Between her, Ebangwese and Shemanova the Orange had three players slamming the ball down from all sides of the court.

The 3-1 match win for the Orange is the same result as when the two teams clashed in Winston-Salem, NC on September 28. The Demon Deacons struggled with hitting percentage on Saturday, hitting just .101 while SU hit .262. Wake Forest also committed 31 attack errors to the Orange’s 18.

It was a big bounce back win for the Orange after a disappointing 3-0 road loss to North Carolina State on Wednesday. Syracuse entered the week ranked 27th in RPI and, despite the loss earlier in the week, find themselves in a very good position to make their first NCAA Tournament.

SU will find out its fate tomorrow night at 8:30 at the selection show on ESPNU.