When Syracuse knocked off Sacred Heart in the opening weekend of the season, it gave the Orange an early marquee victory over a perennial NCAA tournament team.

But SU turned right around and needed a three-set comeback against Youngstown State in its next game to escape with a win. A Youngstown State team that currently has a 4-23 record.

‘I was more surprised that we were down 0-2,’ SU interim head coach Kelly Morrisroe said. ‘ … That will be a game that will be referenced for the rest of the season for us.’

Such has been the story of Syracuse’s season. Inconsistency has mired the Orange’s year from the start. Though SU (17-11, 6-6 Big East) is still in position to qualify for the Big East tournament, it lacks many of the quality wins it was searching for when it put together its rigorous schedule. It was the case this past weekend as Syracuse suffered a pair of blowout losses to Big East powerhouses Louisville and Cincinnati.

A split last weekend would have all but guaranteed the Orange a spot in the Big East tournament, but SU’s struggles against elite teams persisted. Syracuse won the weekend’s opening set against Louisville, but it lost six straight after that and scored more than 18 points just once.

‘They are both well-rounded,’ Morrisroe said. ‘They both have deep rosters. One player won’t beat you, but they all have the chance to.’

The struggles against the country’s better teams are nothing new for the Orange this year. Former head coach Jing Pu scheduled a much more rigorous nonconference schedule than in the past to test the team more. For the most part, SU did not pass the toughest portions of that test.

Syracuse fell to Utah State at the Utah State Tournament and blew a two-set lead to Utah Valley later that same week. The Orange’s last chance at a marquee nonconference win came at the Buffalo Tournament against Dayton, but SU was swept and didn’t reach 20 points in any of the three sets.

The rigorous early season schedule was supposed to prepare Syracuse for the challenge that the depth of the Big East would present. The Orange, for the most part, has held its own in games against teams it was expected to beat, but it has also lost to teams in the bottom half of the conference, such as West Virginia, the 11th-best team in the conference.

‘Any team can beat you in the Big East,’ SU middle blocker Sam Hinz said.

The most consistent issue for Syracuse, though, has been struggles against the conference’s elite. This past weekend’s two losses against the Cardinals and Bearcats are a prime example of the team’s inconsistency.

‘We’ve had too many ups and downs,’ Hinz said. ‘We need to play our game.’

For the Orange to finally find success against elite teams, SU outside hitter Erin Little believes the team must eliminate its mistakes.

Going into the weekend’s two losses to Louisville and Cincinnati, Little was concerned with some of the careless play that has led to her team’s up-and-down play. Her concerns were validated as a fast start to the weekend gave way to a pair of blowouts.

The Orange has one last chance for a marquee victory this weekend when it closes out its season against Notre Dame on Sunday at the Women’s Building. The Fighting Irish are 8-4 in conference and in a tie with Villanova for fourth in the Big East.

But most importantly, Syracuse may need to beat Notre Dame to qualify for the conference tournament. For a team that has yet to pick up a key victory since the season’s opening weekend, it could come down to stepping up in the final game of the year to extend its season.

‘We have to focus on ourselves,’ Morrisroe said. ‘ … We need to focus on our game and make sure we’re winning the games we need to win in order to solidify our spot in the tournament.’

dbwilson@syr.edu