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Syracuse’s momentum from last week’s reverse sweep against Notre Dame was short-lived as the Orange (14-13, 2-13 ACC) fell in straight sets to No. 15 Georgia Tech (19-5, 11-4 ACC). SU struggled to stay consistent in its scoring, failing to reach more than 17 points in each set. It’s Syracuse’s sixth time losing to a ranked team in straight sets.

Every set followed roughly the same pattern, as GT started strong, taking an early lead. Then, SU briefly caught up before losing control, allowing the Yellow Jackets to dominate.

GT took charge of the first set early on, starting with a 6-0 scoring run. Following the run, Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam called his first timeout of the match. Despite the setback, SU cut its deficit to 13-11 thanks to a service ace by libero Greta Schlichter.

But the Yellow Jackets didn’t take that lightly, going on two scoring runs of their own, 4-0 and 5-0. A kill by Leia Harper secured GT the first set, 25-16.

Early on in the second set, Syracuse earned its first lead of the match on a Sydnie Waller kill, pushing the score to 5-4. Soon after, Ganesharatnam challenged a call that a ball by GT was in. The call was quickly overturned in favor of SU with the score changing from 9-6 to 8-7 with GT still in the lead.

Quickly following the challenge, the Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 scoring run. A service error by Georgia Tech followed by an impressive kill by Anastasiia Nikolnikova ended the run. From there, the Orange once again lost momentum and ceded the rest of the set to the Yellow Jackets. A kill by Bianca Bertolino ended the second set 25-15 for GT.

GT had an unbelievable start to the third set, going on an 8-0 run. During the run, it appeared a ball by Georgia Tech was out, triggering what proved to be a challenge by head coach Michelle Collier. A kill by Sara Wasiakowska put an end to the run, making that her first kill of the match.

Later in the set, middle blocker Pola Bujnarowska entered the match. Bujnarowska was a strong force defensively, recording three block attempts. However, another challenge was called against the Orange due to Bujnarowska landing a touch on a ball that went out.

After a lengthy deliberation by officials, the call was reversed, resulting in another point for GT, changing the score from 16-9 to 17-8.

From there, the Orange could not catch up and lost the third set 25-17.

Despite the loss, SU recorded 30 digs and 19 block assists throughout the match. Comparatively, GT only had four block assists.

Ava Palm and Waller tied for the highest number of recorded kills with seven, followed by Nikolnikova who had six. Veronica Sierzant led the team in assists (22) and block attempts (5). Both teams recorded 14 errors, but Georgia Tech registered 56 kills compared to SU’s 26. The Orange simply fell short, resulting in a 3-0 loss.

The Orange face Clemson (8-17, 0-14 ACC) on Sunday to finish up their road trip.

Published on November 15, 2024 at 9:04 pm

Contact Vivian: vpcollins06@gmail.com