Volleyball begins unusual season including a masked match, new guidelines

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Syracuse volleyball begins its abridged season this week with two matches against 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Pitt. Like every other collegiate sports team, head coach Leonid Yelin is navigating how to have a safe season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Louisville’s volleyball season was already jeopardized in early August when 29 members of the Cardinals men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball teams tested positive for COVID-19 after a large house party off campus. Louisville is requiring all athletes, including volleyball’s, to wear masks for their seasons. 

With Syracuse still slated to play at the Cardinals on Oct. 9 and 10, Yelin said during a Zoom press conference that masks will be mandatory for the SU-Louisville double-header. About a week before the Louisville games, players will start wearing masks in practice to prepare and adjust, Yelin said. 

Yelin also said a coach at Louisville notified him that the Cardinals would refuse to play unless Syracuse wore masks. If the Orange did not want to wear masks, the game would still result in a forfeit and loss for Louisville. Unwilling to have more games taken away, the Orange held a team meeting and agreed to wear masks.

“Even in the locker rooms a player has to wear a mask,” Yelin said. “We go out on the floor for warmups, they need a mask, or we’re getting into intensive drills, they’re taking the mask off. All coaches, even some who are involved in drills have a mask. They’ve been good, I can only guess, but so far they’re doing a good job.”

Yelin said with “hopefully” eight games this season, he believes the delay to the start of the season, combined with the extensive list of safety guidelines athletes must follow, has presented challenges in terms of his team’s preseason preparation. Still, he thinks SU is doing well and taking every precaution.

The team’s typical routine of returning to campus in July and beginning workouts was scrapped due to the pandemic. The Orange and the rest of the ACC had to prepare for a schedule that was released on Sept. 4, only three weeks before the Orange’s season-opener. Usually teams will have a couple of months to prepare for a season. 

Against a Pittsburgh side that ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation last season, Yelin said the matchup will show the Orange exactly where they stand, as well as what they have to do to improve. A strong cast of returning players with plenty of experience will aid the Orange, Yelin added. 

“I don’t want to say we are a veteran team, but last year we only lost two players who were seniors,” Yelin said.

Syracuse added two freshmen in Lauren Hogan and Naomi Franco to accompany the 11 returning players, including two juniors and three seniors.

With four double-header weekends, Yelin said this season will prove to be a more psychological marathon. Because the Orange only have eight games, they’ll have a short amount of time to get their best results in the standings, and as seen with other college sports this season, a few positive COVID-19 tests at a school can put an entire season into question. Yelin’s players will be combatting an unprecedented season on top of trying to keep themselves as safe as possible.

“It’s definitely difficult for them, I feel for them,” Yelin said.