Syracuse records season-high 16 blocks in 4-set win over Virginia
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With the fourth set tied at 22, Lauren Woodford prepared herself for a crucial serve. The low, knuckling serve made Madison Morey lose control of the ball before Grace Turner laid out, preventing it from going out of bounds. Turner stuck her right arm out, setting the ball for Mary Shaffer. Shaffer rose up, but was met by a wall of Syracuse players. Naomi Franco and Raina Hughes read the play and sent the ball back to the other side for an SU point.
The combined block gave the Orange their third straight point, putting them up 23-22 in the fourth set. It was also the 16th block of the game for the Orange, giving them their season high. Syracuse (11-13, 7-7 ACC) posted a strong defensive performance against Virginia (11-14, 3-11 ACC), defeating them three sets to one, breaking a four-game losing streak.
Hughes and Franco worked together all game to foil Virginia’s attacks, coming up big when it mattered most. Syracuse found itself in a tough game after easily winning the first two sets, but Virginia climbed back into the game. It needed a spark to get itself over the line and when Franco and Hughes came up with the block, SU had the momentum to come out with the win.
“We are confident in each other that we can get up and get good touches on the blocks,” Hughes said. “We’ve been by each other’s side this whole season and we just keep pushing for each other.”
Hughes recorded a game-high five blocks vs Virginia, continuing her dominance on the defensive end this season. She leads Syracuse in blocks with 93, recording five or more blocks on nine different occasions including Sunday’s victory.
The victory over Virginia was the sixth time this season that Syracuse recorded double-digit blocks and just the third time during ACC play. Its previous season was 13 against Army and Boston College. Syracuse was coming off a season low five-block performance against Pitt, getting swept in three sets.
Playing good defense “comes down to trust,” Woodford said. And as the season has progressed, the team has gelled together.
“Knowing if you can feel someone behind you that they’re going to get the ball even if you can’t see them is important,” Woodford said. “The more we played together, the more comfortable we’ve gotten and that really helps people just go all out and make plays.”
SU is currently dealing with fatigue and injuries late in the season. Setter Riley Hoffman was held out of action, causing Woodford to play the entire game, also forcing Syracuse to play a five-one system.
The system change “put a lot of pressure on our block” according to head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. Despite the added pressure, it didn’t bother Syracuse, which adjusted and stuck to its gameplan. SU knew to be aggressive on the block coming into the game, and if it executed then it would have a good chance of winning.
“Most systems have advantages and disadvantages, but we knew coming in regardless of what system we play, we needed to be aggressive about block,” Ganesharatnam said. “UVA attacks the ball really tight to the net on top of the net and if we position ourselves correctly, and we press we would get a lot of touches.”
Syracuse’s positioning on the blocks was a key aspect of its success. Despite not being the most physically imposing team, SU knew where to be on the floor to put it in a position to do well. Being in the right spot caused Virginia to either change the angle of its attacks or attempt to go through the blocks, which proved unsuccessful.
“We might have not gotten a lot of stock blocks, but because of the positions we forced the attackers to take second and third options on the offense,” Ganesharatnam said. “Then we got a lot of touches which allowed our defensive players to recover and ask to re attack.”
Six Syracuse players recorded a block against Virginia, including Hughes (5), Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk (4), Polina Shemanova (2), Franco (2) and Bre Walp (2). Even the 5-foot-8 Woodford got in on the action with a block, her first of the season for Syracuse.
Syracuse did well on the block all game long while keeping Virginia’s defense quiet. The Cavaliers recorded two blocks in the game, which allowed the SU offense to remain aggressive throughout.