How Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk overcame a torn ACL to become SU’s kills leader
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Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk had two opportunities to tie the final set of Syracuse’s season-opener. The outside hitter’s first attack was blocked by two Tar Heels. Setter Elena Karakasi recovered the ball and set up Lokhmanchuk on the outside once again. This time, Lokhmanchuk spiked the ball into the net to give UNC the set — and the match.
Two days later against Clemson, Syracuse was down 12-11 in the fifth set after back-to-back points by the Tigers. Once again, Lokhmanchuk had two opportunities to tie it. Her first attempt was easily received and returned by Clemson. But when Karakasi set to her again, the ball ricocheted off Clemson’s Cate Long in the backcourt, tying the match. She’d get one more kill in the match for a career-high 17 overall for the Orange’s first spring victory.
Lokhmanchuk has taken over the outside hitter role for the Orange and leads the team with 65 kills this spring. While senior Yuliia Yastrub has seen some time from the position, Lokhmanchuk has made it her own, starting in all but one game this spring. Star outside hitter Polina Shemanova was unable to return from her native Russia this season, allowing Lokhmanchuk to have her first opportunity in the starting lineup. After spending all of 2019 injured, Lokhmanchuk finally had a chance to play this season.
“If there is any player that I am so happy for, it is Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk,” head coach Leonid Yelin said. “To go (through) what she has gone through is unbelievable.”
Lokhmanchuk made her debut in Syracuse’s first match of 2019 against Baylor. But in the third set, she tore her ACL, ending her freshman season as it was just beginning. Her recovery was more difficult in a new country, Yelin said. The Ukraine native was thousands of miles away from home, and she wasn’t able to do the one thing she came to the U.S. for.
Lokhmanchuk sat out the remainder of 2019 but was back to health for the start of this season in October. While the sophomore was able to play in the fall, her playing time was limited to just a few points over six matches. Lokhmanchuk was blocked out by Shemanova, and Yelin wanted to ease her back into the sport. A year and a half after the injury, she still wears a knee brace during every game.
“Even when she would practice the entire time, I was still so afraid,” Yelin said. “I’ve seen good experiences coming back from an ACL tear, but in the past, I have seen bad experiences coming back, so that’s why we wanted to move her as slow as possible.”
Lokhmanchuk also fits the physical traits that Yelin has consistently recruited as a coach. Throughout his career, he’s tended to recruit tall outside hitters. When he coached at Louisville, Yelin brought in outside hitters like 6-foot-6 Jana Matiasovska and 6-foot-8 Katharina Gaertner, the tallest player in Cardinals’ program history. At Syracuse, he’s coached players like Anastasiya Gorelina and Christina Oyawale, who both stood at 6-foot-4. At 6-foot-5, Lokhmanchuk is five inches taller than the average Division I outside hitter, according to Next College Student Athlete.
“When we first recruited her, we saw potential,” Yelin said. “She’s definitely a player that in time could be a big hitter for us.”
Lokhmanchuk specializes in hitting the back corners of the court, behind opposing backlines and making the ball more difficult to dig. Against Virginia Tech, she finished with 14 kills, ten of them landing in two back corners of the court. Near the beginning of the first set, Lokhmanchuk fired an attack to the back right side of the Hokies’ court. A player ran backward and dove trying to recover the ball, but it hit the ground mere inches away from the line.
“When we need a big point she is steady and her arm is amazing,” middle blocker Abby Casiano said.
