Orange Volleyball swept by Colgate

Story by Corey Crisan

After sweeping Saturday’s morning match versus Niagara, the Syracuse Volleyball team were swept by the Colgate Raiders at The Women’s Building. The Orange concluded The Syracuse Tournament with a 2-2 record overall.

Syracuse head coach Leonid Yellin stressed the second match was not even close, by his standards.

“We just lost before we even started to play,” he said. They were a much shorter team. They had the ball control and they were digging a lot.”

Early Battle

It took a few extra volleys for it to happen, but Colgate took the first set, 26-24. Colgate began the first set on an 8-3 run, thanks to solid service from senior setter Lauren Sanderson. Despite playing clean volleyball through the first part of the set, Syracuse trailed. The Orange then capitalized on five Colgate errors to take a 16-14 lead. There were 14 lead changes or ties through the first set as each team capitalized on each other’s miscues. Amber Witherspoon continued her day with five kills in 12 attempts in the first set. Witherspoon tallied 12 total points in the morning contest versus Niagara. Alli Lowe had six kills in 15 tries for Colgate in the first set.

Colgate Capitalizes

The second set was just as, if not more, neck-and-neck as Colgate won 28-26. Colgate repeated its start from the first set as they jumped to an 8-3 lead to begin the set. The Orange went on a 7-1 run throughout the set with service from Jalissa Trotter and Ella Saada. The Orange continued their pace as they totaled four points off Anastasiya Gorelina’s service towards the end of the set. Colgate eventually followed with a 6-1 run through a timeout to send this set to extra service time. Colgate capped off the set after an Anastasiya Gorelina error and a kill by Bridget Kolsky. The Raiders worked mostly through Katie Stansbury as she totaled six kills. Ella Saada had five of Syracuse’s 14 total kills in the set.

How Sweep It Isn’t

The Orange could not stave the Raiders away as Colgate earned the sweep with a 25-21 victory in the third set. Syracuse started with a 5-1 lead before Colgate took advantage of two subsequent Orange errors to prevent a lengthy run. Both teams played evenly-matched volleyball from that point as Syracuse led 10-5 into the first timeout. After that, Colgate caught fire. The Raiders went on a 12-4 run at one point to take a 17-15 lead into another Syracuse timeout. Colgate finished off the Orange to earn the sweep with an 8-6 closing run.

From the Captain

Orange libero Belle Sand stressed the difficulties of fighting and holding her team together through scoring droughts.

“Every time we come to the middle of the court, we try to talk right there and make sure we’re staying calm,” she revealed. “It’s point-by-point. When we’re on the court, we’re not (counting)... I think the biggest thing we need to learn is to cut down those times and transition and adjust quicker, which will help eliminate that window of their runs.”

Game Recap

For Colgate, Katie Stansbury totaled 15 kills, Alli Lowe had 14 kills, and Peighton McRobie recorded 23 digs. For Syracuse, Ella Saada had 16 kills and no other Orange player had more than eight. Libero Belle Sand recorded 21 digs in the night cap. The match took 1:45 to play and 221 were in the stand to watch it.

SET 1: COL 26, SYR 24

SET 2: COL 28, SYR 26

SET 3: COL 25, SYR 21

The Orange will travel to Manhattan, KS to face Wisconsin in the Kansas State Tournament, beginning on Sept 1.

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