Syracuse swept by Miami, falls to 0-9 in ACC play
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Syracuse volleyball (2-17, 0-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) never held a lead in Miami’s (13-6, 6-3 ACC) 3-0 win against it on Friday evening. The Canes’ sixth ACC win dropped the Orange to 0-9 in conference play.
Savannah Vach ended the game with her third kill. The ACC’s assist leader added to strong season with 23, but she also added seven digs, an ace and two blocks. Miami’s setter’s performance helped the Canes’ efficient disposal of the last place Orange all night.
SU freshman setter Veronica Sierzant tried to will the Orange back late in the third set with her sixth and seventh kills, but it wasn’t enough. Sierzant tied a season-high in points with 7.5, which led the Orange along with Cherlin Antonio. As a team, Syracuse only won 43 points all night, scoring on just 32 of them.
With Syracuse down 17-12 after a kill by Antonio, the Hurricanes went back into finishing mode, immediately winning four points in a row. Ashley Carr knocked kills on three of four points in this stretch, with Flormarie Heredia Colon acing the Orange on the other.
Both Carr and Heredia Colon were models of efficiency all night long. The former was 9-of-12 on her attacks, committing just one error and tallying a .667 hitting percentage. Heredia Colon hit a lower percentage, .550, but notched eleven kills with zero errors to lead the way.
“Miami has a very balanced offense,” Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said on Tuesday. “They control the ball well, and they run an efficient system to create constant pressure on the opponents.”
The third set opened with an error from Antonio, one of just three on the night, but she continued her overall hitting slump, with just seven kills on 21 attacks. After eleven consecutive games with nine or more kills, Antonio has just nine combined kills in her last two matches. She went from seeing around 40 attacking attempts per match, to just 21 in each of the last two matches.
“We’re trying to be aggressive on offense,” Ganesharatnam said on Tuesday. “We’re trying to get multiple people involved, that’s the only way we can compete against Miami.”
The second set was the most competitive of the three, with the game-tying block by Laila Smith and Raina Hughes being a high point for the Orange. Then, Miami embarked on a massive run. Beginning with an error from Hughes, Syracuse lost nine straight points, with five of them coming on errors. Syracuse often beat themselves, but Miami shut the door on any chance the Orange had to regroup.
Syracuse called timeout with the score at 12-6, but Angela Grieve and Cianna Tejada immediately killed off points, converting on sets from Vach to continue the string of momentum. Following those two kills, reigning ACC Freshman of the Week Grace Lopez aced the Orange, one of her two aces on a night where she struggled to kill points.
Miami, a team that ranked sixth in the ACC in aces per set entering the night, won a resounding eight points directly off the serve. Milana Moisio and Heredia Colon knocked aces in the first set helping the Canes build up a massive 11-3 lead. The game finished the same way that it started, with Syracuse unable to gain ground against the Canes’ potent offense.
