Syracuse loses 4th straight game to UNC in set sweep

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Leonid Yelin sat at the table postgame with Abby Casiano and Marina Markova after a 3-0 loss to North Carolina, the team’s fourth straight loss. Although the two lead the team statistically in several categories, Yelin made a statement challenging his team: his players needed to step up, as two players were out due to injuries and the Orange struggled because of it.

Syracuse (14-6, 3-5 Atlantic Coast) needed just a little bit more in each of the three set losses to UNC (15-4, 4-4 ACC). SU came within four points in each set but failed to finish strong. In the first and third set, the Orange allowed UNC to come back after leading throughout, and in the second it allowed the Tar Heels to break away in the final rallies.

Early on, all signs pointed to a different game than Friday’s 3-1 loss to North Carolina State. Syracuse won the first point of the day off of a fake set to Casiano that landed at Polina Shemanova’s hands. She calmly spiked the ball which hit the chest of Olivia Diaz, who was unable to control it. 

Syracuse jumped out to a 3-0 lead but UNC earned its first point when Casiano shifted to the right and attempted to meet Skyy Howard at the top of the net. Casiano’s hands got in front of the ball, but not on top, so the ball deflected off of her to the right and out of bounds, giving Howard the kill.

Still, Syracuse kept their distance from UNC and managed to go up by five points. But the Tar Heels cut the lead to three after a failed block attempt by Casiano and Shemanova. The next play, libero Lauren Hogan dove short of the ball and missed the dig. Yelin, sensing UNC adjusting, called a timeout.  

After the timeout, Izzy Plummer and Markova each earned a kill to keep the lead at 15-11. Syracuse quickly gave up three straight points, however. First, Plummer and Naomi Franco were too late to react on a block to give up a spike kill, and then Shemanova was blocked on consecutive plays to pull the Tar Heels within one. 

After a UNC service error, Franco and Casiano got their hands on another block attempt on the right side, but again, the Syracuse frontline was strong enough, and the ball fell between the two players and the net and onto the ground for UNC.

Despite finishing with 22 blocks, the Orange frontline struggled to follow through on blocks — especially in the first period. 

“The block (isn’t) just you put your hands above the net, it has to be over the net,” Yelin said. “(Blocking) is three things and all three things have to be perfect or else it’s not going to work. You have to get the right spot, right time and be right there over the net.” 

UNC earned its first lead at 18-17 and then scored four straight points to force a Syracuse timeout. This time, the Orange couldn’t respond and the Tar Heels closed out the set 22-17, gaining the 1-0 set advantage. 

In the second set, Syracuse was plagued by a slow start. UNC had multiple kills that went untouched to give it a 10-4 lead, again forcing Yelin to take a timeout so his team could regroup. 

UNC wasn’t phased and kept the lead at five all the way up until 19-14 after a spike hit Yuliia Yastrub in the chest and she failed to control it for the dig. 

Syracuse was left weakened on defense as Yastrub was forced to step into the role of libero because starting Hogan was dealing with a knee injury, forcing Yelin to play her less. Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk didn’t dress for the second straight game due to “medical reasons.” 

But after Yastrub’s missed dig attempt, Syracuse began to close the gap. Shemanova spiked it between two UNC frontline players to earn a point, and then Casiano and Elena Karakasi combined for a block to cut the deficit to two. Karakasi had an all-around day, finishing with four kills, 33 assists and four block assists. 

Later in the set, UNC answered with a 4-0 run of its own to close out the set and go up 2-0, again providing a deflating blow to SU at the end of a close set. 

Syracuse found themselves down two sets for the fourth time in two weeks, and Yelin didn’t provide an answer for the struggles. Yelin gave credit to his team for bringing “a lot of energy” to practice every day and having the right attitude but said there hasn’t been a translation to the games.

The third set was no different than the first two, as Syracuse jumped to a lead throughout the first 19 rallies. UNC earned its first lead at 11-10 when a spike split Casiano and Franco. 

Syracuse kept it within one until Markova spiked it from the left side just outside the inbounds line. The main judge initially called a point for Syracuse because UNC touched the ball, but the Tar Heels’ players successfully argued to overturn the point, and Syracuse went down 14-16. Yelin argued with the referees, saying UNC needed to challenge the play in order to overturn the call, but the judges didn’t listen. 

SU found energy after the call, and Markova earned a spike the next set, propelling the Orange on a 4-0 run and to take an 18-16 lead. After UNC tied it at 21, Syracuse regained the lead when Emily Zinger failed to get the ball over the net for UNC. 

Being up by two sets, however, the UNC coaches smiled on the bench and didn’t get upset. Over the next four plays, Syracuse allowed four straight points to UNC to lose the set and the game.

“Volleyball is a game of ups and downs,” Casiano said. “The key is making it that the lows aren’t as low.”