Marina Markova and Polina Shemanova earn All-ACC honors

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After returning to the volleyball court following travel difficulties in the spring 2021 season, Marina Markova was named to the All-ACC first team and Polina Shemanova received All-ACC second team honors.

The pair helped Syracuse to a 17-13 record with six conference wins, including road sweeps at Duke and North Carolina State and a home sweep against Clemson.

“We have those big, powerful hitters that I think we may have been lacking last year,” middle blocker Abby Casiano said of the pair returning to the team earlier this season. “It’s really nice to have them back on the court.”

Markova earned co-ACC player of the week twice and led Syracuse with 492 kills, which was also an ACC best. She also earned Most Valuable Player honors at the Yale Invitational. She was successful on roughly 30% of her attacks and averaged 4.51 kills per set. The junior also helped out the team on the defensive end, with 73 blocks on the season, an improvement of 44 from her sophomore season.

Markova’s strongest performances included a 33 kill game in a five-set loss to Florida State, which is the third-highest number of kills in Syracuse history, and a 22 kill game in a sweep over Ball State.

Shemanova wasn’t too far behind Markova in kills, as she was second on the team with 421. She also helped out the backline with a team-high 373 digs, which included a career-high 21 in Syracuse’s second match against Duke.

To end the season, Syracuse finished 41st in the RPI rankings but failed to make the NCAA Tournament.