Potent offense helps Syracuse sweep Morgan State 3-0

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With Syracuse kill leader Cherlin Antonio out injured, sophomore Ariana Joubert stepped up to take on the offensive load.

Joubert’s career high 16-kills helped Syracuse (2-7, Atlantic Coast Conference) defeat Morgan State (4-10, Mid Eastern Athletic Conference) in straight sets. Joubert set the tone and the rest of the offense followed. The Orange hit nearly .200 from the floor, a season-high for the team. Sophomore Ariana Joubert recorded a career-high 16 kills after recording a previous career-high 10 against Iowa on Friday night.

“I hope so. I’ll try to be consistent,” Joubert said. “That’s what I want from the season. Mostly, I’ve been working on being more consistent offensively, so, yeah. Hopefully I stay up in those numbers.”

Joubert matched her previous career-high in kills in the second set of the contest. From the start of the match, Jouert dominated. A lot of her kills came from feeds off Mira Ledermuller, who finished the match with 33 assists. The freshman is the team’s main facilitator, averaging just under 26 assists per game. Head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam praised Ledermueller after the game.

“She was very smart in the way she ran the offense,” Ganesharatnam said. “She was able to put hitters in positions where they get one block or seams they can work with. And the location of the sets were very consistent. That’s the main component in order to have good connections with the hitters. …Overall I thought she played one of the best matches so far.”

Lauren McCabe also benefited from Ledermuller’s feeds. McCabe ended the match with eight kills, including a key moment in the final set where she scored four out of five points for SU. In the last three game McCabe hit an average of nearly 45 percent, the best percentage over that same span on the entire Orange roster. Despite getting fewer attempts than some of her teammates, McCabe said she’s always ready.

“I told my setter today that I’m going to hit to get kills,” McCabe said. “I think [for] my hits today, my goal is to get minimum seven and my team can just count on me that I’m going to try to minimize my unforced airs and that I’m always going to be hitting to get a kill. And if it doesn’t work, I’m going to try something else.”

Greta Schlicter also played a key role in the offense for the Orange. She tied her career-high nine kills that she set against Iowa on Friday.