Syracuse made few errors, but could not overcome No. 7 Pittsburgh in sweep

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Nearing the end of the first set, Syracuse trailed Pittsburgh by one as Riley Hoffman stepped up to serve. Hoffman’s hit was controlled immediately by Pittsburgh, who quickly rearranged into an offensive formation. Two quick touches later and the ball was played high into the air. First, Panther Serena Gray served as a decoy for the intended receiver. Seconds later, Courtney Buzzerio spiked the ball, but Polina Shemanova was instantly at the net. 

With Raina Hughes slightly to her right, the plan was for both of them to pin Buzzerio’s shot back into Pittsburgh territory. But the attempt flew straight into Shemanova’s outstretched palms and pinballed back past Buzzerio, the ball making a beeline toward setter Rachel Fairbanks. Fairbanks, unable to react fast enough, could barely get a hand to the ball, before it hit the ground for a Syracuse point. 

Shemanova’s block knotted things up at 21 against one of the best teams in the country and had the entire crowd on the edge of their seats. For the remainder of the first set, Syracuse would go on to score two more points but ultimately lost the set by two. This was the closest they would come to winning a set for the remainder of the match. 

Syracuse (10-13, 6-7 Atlantic Coast) played their best game of their season against No. 7 ranked Pittsburgh (23-2, 13-0 ACC) tonight. At times, it felt that this was the upset the Orange had been looking for all season, a reason for the committee to look past its struggling record and usher them into the NCAA tournament. SU only had six service errors, which have been a consistent issue all season, but still couldn’t overcome the Panthers.

“They have really skilled players on both ends and their coaching staff has been there for a long time,” head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “They play the same system, the players are very disciplined, and they executed at a very high level within that system.”

Although SU totaled 13 errors compared to Pitt’s 11, it was still the Orange’s fourth lowest total of the season. With receiving errors usually responsible for a large portion of that number, Syracuse committed just five. Alyssa Bert, who was responsible for eight of those errors against the Seminoles, had just one today, while also producing a team-high eight digs.

Leading 1-0, Shemanova steadied herself and tossed the ball into the air, higher than usual, signaling the execution of one of her recently patented top spin serves. She delivered the serve with power and accuracy as it flew toward the bottom right corner of the Pittsburgh half. Panther libero, Ashley Browske, was able to get a hand on it, but it was just too much to handle. 

On the attacking side, Shemanova seemed to get whatever she wanted for the most part, but it was Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk who led the team in kills with 14. Primarily hitting from the left side, Lokhmanchuk was only able to convert on 20.9% of her kill attempts but still showed her versatile ability to read the defense before deciding on a drop shot, a carefully measured tip, or a powerful smash.

During the mid-point of SU’s first set heroics, they were close to taking a lead over Pitt, only down by two, 17-15. After a lengthy rally between the two teams, Lokhamnchuk sent a spike toward the near sideline, only to see her hit foiled by a one-handed dig by Browsky. But Browsky’s save wasn’t controlled, and Pitt were forced to hand their possession to the Orange with a free ball. 

This didn’t deter Lokhmanchuk. Totaling four kills by that point already, it felt like she knew the ball was coming back to her. Sure enough, on the ensuing play, Lauren Woodford made a diving play to send a pass over to Lokhmanchuk. This time, Lokhmanchuk’s attempt bullied its way through a pair of Pittsburgh blockers leaving setter Lexis Akeo vulnerable. Akeo couldn’t get to it and Syracuse continued to chop away at the Panther lead. But ultimately, Pittsburgh held on for the win.

“When you play at a high level like this, the margin of error is very, very small, and oftentimes, it’s one or two plays that will make the difference,” Ganesharatnam said. “Now, the learning process is that we need to carry this high level of performance over to the next match so we can get a better result and what we received today.”