Syracuse falls in 4 sets against Army

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With Army leading two sets to one in the fourth set, Syracuse’s Alyssa Bert served the ball needing a point to keep the match going. While SU had a four-point run in the set, the Black Knights had six multi-points runs in the game. With the score 24-21 in favor of Army, Bert fired the ball over the net to Savannah Bray, who tapped it to Sayler Butters. Butters sent a lob pass to Mackenzie Lynch, who slammed the ball home, out of the reach of the diving Bert. The failure to keep the point alive cemented the Orange’s third loss in four games. 

It took a couple sets for Syracuse (3-4, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) to finally get a rhythm against Army (3-5, 0-0 Patriot) who played tough defense throughout the match. The Syracuse fell behind after it dropped the first two sets. While the victorious third set was promising, the Orange struggled to find their momentum in the fourth set.

“I think some little of the little things add up over time, and those are things we need to focus on,” head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “In general, I think we could have done a better job in our movements between the touches and our preparation could be better. Transition work needed to be a little faster, a little cleaner as well.”

SU lost the first sets but failed to close out well as Army capitalized on its mistakes. After falling down 20-17 in the first set, Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk recorded an ace, part of a Syracuse five-point run to take the lead. But from there, the Black Knights took five of the next six points, giving them a one-set advantage. 

In the second set, the Orange found themselves leading 15-13. But Riley Hoffman committed a service error to give the serve right back to the Black Knights. Following this error, Army won the next 11 of 15 from Syracuse. While Orange ended up having fewer total errors than the Black Knights, they had twice as many service errors.

“I think the first two sets we just had too many errors,” SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “We need to minimize those errors…that’s the next step in our progression.”

Ganesharatnam and his coaching staff told the players to “relax” before the third set. The Orange were able to minimize their mistakes and were more aggressive with their serves. Instead of errors, three of the six aces on the night for Syracuse came in the third frame. The Orange wasted no time, taking eight of the first nine points in the set. Shemanova had consecutive aces and a kill for the Orange’s first three points. Army never threatened to make a comeback as Syracuse maintained a double-digit lead for most of the set. During the rest of the set, Shemanova and Lohkmanchuk combined for six more kills in the set.

Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Raina Hughes notched a kill and a block on Army’s Julia Johnson. Hughes played a position she hadn’t in her time at Syracuse.

“She played as a middle (blocker), which she played before but she hadn’t played middle this season. So that was a great adjustment,” Shemanova said.

In the fourth set, Syracuse dug themselves a hole early, falling behind 6-2, but they were able to make it 9-9 later on. Army followed that up with four straight points, giving them a lead they wouldn’t surrender for the rest of the match. Still, the Orange’s top hitters were keeping them in the the set. Lohkmanchuk sent a hard kill past the Black Knights off of an assist from Lauren Woodford. But Lohkmanchuk’s four kills in the set weren’t enough as SU dropped the final set 25-22. 

“I felt like we were a little tight, we were overthinking things a little bit,” Ganesharatam said. “Maybe it was because it was the first home game, there was big anticipation for us, for the entire department.”