Syracuse falls in straight sets to Notre Dame
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Syracuse (2-10, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) followed up its straight set loss to Louisville with another straight set loss, this time to Notre Dame (8-2, 2-0 ACC) on Sunday. After a close first set didn’t go SU’s way, Notre Dame settled into a rhythm, going on dominant scoring runs in each of the second two sets en route to their victory.
Syracuse and Notre Dame traded the first fifteen points. Neither team strung together back-to-back points until freshman Veronica Sierzant aced the Irish to put Syracuse up 9-7. During the stretch, Cherlin Antonio recorded three kills, setting the tone for a career day. Antonio, who didn’t play at all last weekend, used her power to overwhelm the Notre Dame defenders. She recorded nine kills in the first set.
Antonio battled with Notre Dame’s Sydney Palazzolo, a High Point transfer who entered the weekend ranked top 15 in the country in kills per set. Palazzolo recorded seven kills in the first set. With the Irish one point away from winning the first set, Antonio powered a kill to keep the opening frame going. Mistakes haunted the Orange in the closing moments of the set. Mira Ledermueller committed a service error, and followed it up with a ball handling error, giving Notre Dame the set.
Both teams had 16 kills to just three errors in the first set, but the following sets weren’t as competitive. Antonio and the Orange came out sloppy in the second set. Two more errors had Syracuse behind early and Notre Dame setter Nicole Drewnick recorded a kill to put the Irish up 6-2, forcing Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam to take a timeout.
Ganesharatnam’s timeout couldn’t stop Notre Dame’s momentum. Antonio recorded an error, and the Orange would never come closer than four points down for the rest of the set. Syracuse halved their kills from the first set while doubling their errors.
With the Irish ahead 15-9, Antonio committed Syracuse’s eighth service error in just two sets, and it wouldn’t get another serve until the third. Palazzolo took her serve and won each and every point for the remainder of the set. Palazzolo had four aces during the stretch, bringing her total on the season up to 20. Notre Dame’s scoring run held the Orange below ten points in a set for the fourth time this season.
Syracuse responded well in the third set, leading for early portions of the set. Antonio re-established her dominance with another three kills within the first ten points of the set. Over the day, Antonio recorded a career-high 19 kills. Antonio had her sixth consecutive game with double-digit kills on Sunday, with this one being the most efficient of the group, hitting at a .405 clip.
However, the rest of Syracuse’s offense struggled in the second and third sets. Notre Dame took control in the third set when Lauren McCabe and Greta Schlichter recorded back-to-back-to-back attack errors, turning a 15-13 Orange lead into a 16-15 deficit.
While Syracuse struggled with errors, Notre Dame stayed clean all afternoon. The Irish finished the night with 38 kills to just nine attacking errors. The Irish also more than doubled Syracuse in digs, shoveling out 31 balls, to the Orange’s 15.
Immediately following a timeout by Ganesharatnam, the Irish won another three straight points, forcing another Syracuse timeout. Syracuse finally stopped Notre Dame’s run after the Irish had won nine straight points.
SU recorded 13 service errors, including a crucial one by Melina Brooking that gave Notre Dame their 23rd point of the third set, extending its lead to seven points. It was Syracuse’s third match in the last six in which it recorded double-digit service errors.
Antonio did what she could, getting two more kills, but the match ended when Palazzolo recorded her thirteenth kill, giving Notre Dame a victory by the score of 26-24, 25-9, 25-18.
