Syracuse falls to Florida State in straight-sets

After dropping the final three sets during a trip to Miami on Friday night, the Orange suffered their second consecutive defeat to Florida State (12-5, 6-2 Atlantic Coast), this time in straight-sets. Syracuse (5-10, 2-6) tallied 21 attacking errors in the loss. 

Sophomore outside hitter Polina Shemanova, who led the Orange in kills against Miami with 21, struggled on Sunday in Tallahassee. Shemanova tallied 17 kills, a game-high, but she also committed 10 attacking errors. Fellow outside hitters juniors Yuliia Yastrub and Ella Saada couldn’t get anything going from the outside, as the two combined for 10 kills and eight attacking errors. 

Florida State dominated Syracuse’s young middle blockers as well. The Orange only mustered three blocks, while the Seminoles blocked 13 shots from Syracuse. 

Late in the first set, Syracuse and Florida State drew level at 22 after SU freshman Berkley Hayes delivered an ace. On the next play, Saada misread Florida State’s defense and fired a ball straight into Florida State’s middles, giving the Seminoles the lead. Florida State would record a kill to force a set point on the next point, and FSU escaped with a 25-23 set win after an Elena Karakasi service error. 

The second set saw the Orange jump to a 9-3 lead, but a series of attacking errors and kills from Florida State gave FSU a comeback second set win, 25-18.

In the third set, Syracuse would again earn an early lead, 14-11. But a pair of kills from Florida State and an attacking error from Shemanova allowed Florida State to tie the score. The Seminoles took control of the set with efficient and solid attacking play, with the set and match eventually ending with a kill from Payton Caffrey.  

Syracuse’s four-game road trip continues on Friday with a visit to Chapel Hill to play eight-win North Carolina.