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Clemson’s Mckenna Slavik passed the ball to Adria Powell who found a hole in the Syracuse defense, to give the Tigers a 3-0 run in the middle of the third set. Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam called a timeout for the Orange to reset. When play resumed, Becca Micelle served the ball towards the back left corner of Syracuse’s side as SU’s Greta Schlichter and Melina Brooking watched the ball land in bounds for the service ace. Clemson’s lead extended to 17-12.

Later in the set, after two straight points by Clemson, Ganesharatnam called another timeout with the Tigers leading 22-14. After the timeout, Slavik served the ball to Syracuse toward the back left corner where Brooking and Alyssa Bert stood. Again, two Orange players watched the ball fall in the boundaries near them, giving Slavik the ace and extending the Clemson lead to 23-14.

After a two-point first set loss, Syracuse (2-18, 0-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) suffered increasingly greater losses in the second and third sets to Clemson (13-10, 4-7 ACC), resulting in its fifth consecutive straight-set loss. The 3-0 loss continued the now-11-match losing streak for the Orange while having been defeated in 18 straight sets.

The first set began with Syracuse jumping out to a 4-2 lead behind three straight kills, in what would be its largest advantage of the night. Powell recorded a kill and Veronica Sierzant committed a ball handling error to knot the set at 4-4.

Kateryna Tkachenko recorded three kills as part of a 5-1 run for Clemson, as Clemson led 9-6, the largest lead by either team at any point in the first set. With the Tigers ahead 13-10, Schlichter found Zharia Harris-Waddy for the kill and then Harris-Waddy set up Schlichter for a kill, narrowing the set to 13-12.

Later in the set, after a kill by Laila Smith followed by a kill by Raina Hughes, Syracuse regained the lead, forcing Clemson head coach Jackie Simpson Kirr to call a timeout. The Tigers responded with a 4-1 run to jump out to a 20-18 lead, this time Ganesharatnam calling a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Mira Ledermueller set up Sierzant for the kill then Schlichter and Harris-Waddy combined for the block assist to knot the set at 20-20. Clemson went on a 4-2 run forcing another timeout for the Orange. Kennedy Wagner committed a service error to bring SU within one but then Lauren McCabe hit the ball out of bounds as the Tigers took the first set 25-23.

Syracuse players were asked to adjust and some played different positions after Cherlin Antonio was ruled out with a knee injury earlier this week. Despite having players in new positions, Syracuse recorded 16 kills while Clemson notched 14 in the first set, but dropped the first set by two.

“It’s important that we play pretty versatile and that everybody can do everything” Harris-Waddy said. “Everybody stepping up and being open to do anything helps everybody to contribute.”

Syracuse began the second set with a 3-2 lead but Clemson was quick to respond with a 5-2 run, leading 7-5. Wagner committed another service error to stop the run temporarily before a kill by Slavik gave the Tigers a 9-6 lead. Ganesharatnam called his third timeout of the night and Sierzant, who Ganesharatnam said was stepping up tonight as a hitter, responded with two straight kills closing the Clemson lead to 9-8.

After each of Syracuse’s first three timeouts, the Orange responded with a point.

“We find solutions for situations,” Ganesharatnam said. “Sometimes it’s also to change the rhythm, but mostly we focus on two, maximum three things, we want to execute well coming out of those timeouts.”

Clemson then used an 8-3 run to jump out to a 17-11 lead, one they wouldn’t squirmish in the second set. With the Tigers ahead 19-13, SU took a timeout, but on the other side of the break, Syracuse didn’t immediately score like they had the previous three times. Powell and Slavik combined for the block assist giving Clemson the momentum to close out the set 25-17.

To start the third set, SU jumped out to another lead, ahead 2-0. The Tigers clawed back in, creating a 4-1 run, behind kills by three separate players. Hughes took the lead back for the Orange by recording a kill but then Clemson went on a 5-1 run to jump out to 10-7. Harris-Waddy recorded two of her eight kills to tie the game at 10-10 and Clemson called timeout.

After the timeout, the Tigers rallied for a 15-5 run to put an end to the night for the Orange. Sierzant recorded two of her career high 10 kills in the back half of the set but the lack of offense coupled with allowing two service aces after timeouts wasn’t enough as SU dropped the third set 25-15.

“At the end we ran a little out of gas. We invested a lot of energy in our transition work and that’s okay if you have multiple players coming in and doing it over the period of a match but we don’t have that luxury. We have the same people investing that energy, eventually it’s going to wear you down a bit,” Ganesharatnam said.

Published on October 28, 2023 at 12:05 am