Leah Levert helps keep Syracuse in 3-1 loss to Miami

Syracuse found itself down a point following a strong kill in the first set against Miami. The Hurricanes looked like they might get into a rhythm against the Orange. But that was halted by Syracuse middle blocker Leah Levert.

The very next play, the junior rose up and punched the ball into the Women’s Building court on Miami’s side for her first kill. The very next point she tapped the ball with the same result: another point. Her play kept the Orange around early in the first set. She set the tone for the team that unfortunately could not catch on.

Levert was one of the lone bright spots in Syracuse’s (7-18, 6-9 Atlantic Coast) 3-1 loss to Miami (12-15, 6-9) Friday night. She recorded 10 kills on only 13 attempts and notched four blocks. Her .692 hitting percentage was the top mark on the team.

The Orange stayed competitive for much of the game largely because of Levert. The middle blocker’s effort was not enough to prevent SU from adding its third loss in the last four games. Her six kills in the first two sets allowed SU to carry some momentum into the back half of the match and play noticeably better in that time. The team ultimately could not come back from Miami’s early lead.

“We lacked a spark,” said Levert of the team’s overall performance. “We temporarily had energy, we temporarily had the drive to fight.”

Aside from Levert’s performance errors plagued the rest of the game. Those errors were the deciding factor of the game as the scoring often fluctuated throughout the sets based on which team committed more errors.