Syracuse falls in straight sets to Georgia Tech
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Down 23-17, Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk bounced the ball against the hardwood, trying to focus with the crowd cheering loudly as she got ready to serve. Paola Pimentel dug Lokhmanchuk’s serve out in the middle to Bianca Bertolino, who perfectly cushioned it for Erin Moss. Moss slammed the ball past Alyssa Bert and finished off the set two points later with another kill, her sixth of the game.
Syracuse (10-10, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) struggled to deal with Georgia Tech’s (15-4, 8-2 ACC) aggressive offense falling in straight sets for the fourth time in conference play this season. The loss concluded a four-game road stretch for the Orange, in which they went 2-2.
From the jump, the Orange had trouble with the Yellow Jackets, falling behind 12-3 in the first set. Syracuse started to gain its footing in the set during a stretch where they recorded 10 of 11 points, making it 16-15. But four consecutive points put Georgia Tech back in control, and they eventually won the set 25-18. Georgia Tech finished with 19 kills in the first set compared to SU’s seven.
SU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Georgia Tech quickly responded. The Yellow Jackets scored nine points in a row, gaining control of the set, leading 18-10. Once again, Syracuse battled back from behind to make it tight down the stretch. Polina Shemanova recorded her fifth kill of the set to tie it up at 20, but Georgia Tech countered by scoring five of the next six points to take the set 25-21.
SU’s offense struggled to get going, finishing with a season-low 28 kills. Shemanova finished as the only SU player with double digits kills (14), and Lokhmanchuk was the next closest player with six. Georgia Tech finished with 48 kills, led by Julia Bergmann, recording 15 kills and Moss who had 14.
Georgia Tech continued their momentum from the end of the second set to jump out to an early lead in the third. Seven of the first 10 points went to the Yellow Jackets as SU dug itself into another hole. Like in the previous two sets, SU came back, cutting the Georgia Tech lead to 18-16. Naomi Franco attempted a kill along the sideline, but the ball landed out of play, giving Georgia Tech a 25-20 three-set victory.
Defensively, SU struggled, recording a season-low 25 digs as Alyssa Bert’s 12 digs led the Orange. No other SU players finished with more than seven digs on the day. Georgia Tech got consistent defensive play, with multiple players contributing. None of the Yellow Jacket players recorded more than 10 digs, with Bertolino finishing with nine and Bergmann with eight.
