Syracuse wins 1st set in over 1 month but falls 3-1 to Florida State
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Syracuse outside hitter Raina Hughes skied up, and swung, smashing the ball to land one of her career-high fifteen kills. The Orange had won their first set in over a month after 28 consecutive losing sets.
Despite winning the second set, Syracuse (2-23, 0-15 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost its fifteenth consecutive ACC match to Florida State (19-8, 13-2 ACC), on Friday night by a score of 3-1. The Orange had 29 attacking errors and labored to a paltry .052 hitting percentage, while the Seminoles hit .369.
Just like the first match between these two, Florida State opened the match in total control. They squeaked out to a 7-5 lead, with two of the lost points coming on service errors, and then turned up the heat. The Noles’ top hitter, Audrey Koenig, had three consecutive kills to force a Syracuse timeout. It didn’t get any better from there for head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam’s team, as the Orange didn’t win serve back until the score was 18-5.
While the Orange began to improve offensively, it was a lost cause for the first set, as Audrey Rothman killed away the final point of the set to win it 25-10. In that opening frame, FSU got whatever it wanted. The visitors killed off 18 points without a single attacking error, for a ridiculous .563 hitting percentage.
“I didn’t think we played very good in the first set,” Ganesharatnam said. “We wanted to come in and have a lot of energy and put a lot of effort in, but we couldn’t execute very well.”
While the second set was much closer down the stretch, Syracuse still trailed, and was just three points away from dropping consecutive set number 29. Then, a switch flipped. Greta Schlichter began to take over the game.
Schlichter, the five-foot-six defensive specialist-turned-outside-hitter, knocked an important kill to win serve back. Two points later, she had a solo block, and erupted with a scream and a fist pump. As she celebrated, her middle blocker, Laila Smith, gave her a massive embrace, demonstrating how proud she was of her.
“[The energy] is just inside me and it’s coming out during these games,” Schlichter said. “I never want to hold it back, and I feel like the whole team got it and gave it back, and I feel like there’s so much energy going around on the court and in the crowd, so it’s super easy for me.”
She followed up her block with another kill, and when Veronica Sierzant hit back-to-back aces to give the Orange the lead, the crowd erupted, and the team erupted. It was the loudest crowd all season at the Women’s Building, cheering for every single point, even in the sets where the Orange struggled.
“It’s not easy to support a team that is 2-23,” Ganesharatnam said. “The crowd was waiting for months for something to cheer for, so we’re very happy that we can give something back”
Hughes’ kill capped off the set, SU’s first win in 28 consecutive losses. However, that’s not how Ganesharatnam sees it.
“If I think about all of these negative records, I would drive myself crazy,” Ganesharatnam said. “It’s not going to help, so we just focus on trying to find solutions, to keep the team together, and to keep the team motivated.”
The Orange served incredibly well in the second set, putting Florida State in difficult situation after difficult situation. Syracuse took the approach of attacking Koenig on serve receive in an attempt to take the Seminoles out of system and steal a few points.
“She has trouble going to her left on serve receive, and sometimes to her right,” Ganesharatnam said. “So we wanted to attack her.”
While the strategy helped Syracuse out in the second set, Koenig wouldn’t back down from a challenge. The star Seminole still put in an impressive performance, recording 12 kills with zero errors, and ten digs, a double-double. Koenig and Khori Louis combined for 27 kills with just one attacking error, devastating the Syracuse defensive lines.
The third and fourth sets were much closer to the first set. When Florida State built an advantage, it didn’t wilt away, and the Seminoles would capitalize to end the match in four sets. The third set presented Syracuse plenty of challenges attacking the block, with FSU winning six points via the block.
“They’re a good blocking team,” Ganesharatnam said. “They’re going to have blocks, so we know that we just have to keep attacking.”
While Syracuse did continue to attack, it continued to run into errors. Outside of Hughes, the Orange combined for 21 kills and 23 errors. Lauren McCabe had six mishaps, while Schlichter had five of her own. In each of the third and fourth sets, Syracuse recorded seven errors.
