Syracuse falls in 5 sets to Bryant

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Syracuse (4-6, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) fell in five sets to Bryant (8-5, Northeast Conference) in its lone game in the Dog Pound challenge, a tournament hosted by UConn.

Syracuse battled with Bryant in the first set as a Naomi Franco kill evened the score at 12-12. SU then scored four straight, including a solo block from Polina Shemanova and an attacking error from Bryant, to lead 17-14. Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk had two straight kills late in the set to give the Orange set point, but Bryant would score three in a row after errors from Walp and Lokhmanchuk to win the first 26-24.

Syracuse’s struggles carried over to the beginning of the second set as it fell behind 14-8. The Bulldogs led 17-11, but Syracuse clawed its way back into the set, tying the game up at 19-19 after a Lokhmanchuk kill. A Raina Hughes spike evened things up at 23-23, which gave Syracuse the momentum to win the second set 25-23.

The Orange looked to be on their way to their second set victory in a row when Shemanova registered a kill to give Cuse a 24-21 lead in the third set. Syracuse had given themselves three set points to try and take the lead in the match. Bryant responded with three points in a row on two different occasions.

The Bulldogs tied the set up at 24-24 after an assisted block from Alysa Wright and Fabiana Castro. Shemanova got a kill, but the Bulldogs used three straight kills of their own to take the pivotal set 27-25.

Syracuse finished the fourth set much better than it did in the third. Bryant used another big run to make it 20-20, but Lokhmanchuk registered two straight kills to give Syracuse a two-point cushion which led to a 25-23 win, forcing a fifth and final set.

The Orange jumped out to a 4-3 lead in the fifth set, but Bryant scored six out of the next seven points to lead 9-5. Syracuse battled, but eventually dropped the set 15-11.