Volleyball

Seminoles dominate Orange volleyball in straight sets

Seminoles dominate Orange volleyball in straight sets

FSU’s powerful offense overwhelms the Orange, handing Syracuse a straight-sets defeat in front of a home crowd at the Women’s Building.

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Sadie Jones
Ava Palm (6) rushes to celebrate after scoring a point for the Syracuse Volleyball Team in their game against Layfette College.

Syracuse Volleyball welcomed the Florida State Seminoles to the Women’s building this Sunday. FSU’s relentless scoring was suffocating for the Orange as they lost the match in straight sets. 

Where is this heading?

It’s safe to say that Syracuse Volleyball has been struggling recently after their strong start, going 12-0 in non-conference play. The Orange have been on an 8-match losing streak since they began play within the ACC. However, head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam is still optimistic about his team’s ability to play in one of the most competitive conferences in college volleyball.

“The Miami game, the Florida State game, even Stanford, Cal, those matches show us that we can compete with that level of teams,” 3rd year Syracuse coach said. “But we gotta do it more consistently so we can compete with them for more than just one set.”

A valuable lesson that Ganesharatnam took from the team’s last match against Miami was to keep energy levels high. Even though they lost in straight sets, their fight never wavered, and the Orange had their best set in the 3rd, only losing by a score of 25-22. Ganesharatnam believes they were competitive because they stayed motivated and remained focused. 

“The energy level we had in that set was helpful for us to execute on the court, which we wanted to have from the get-go in this match. From that standpoint, it was pretty good. We had excellent intentions, and the effort on the court was much better at the start of this match compared to Miami,” Ganesharatnam said. 

Game Recap

After losing the first set 25-15, the Orange had a second set similar to their third set against Miami, where they were fully competitive the entire time. The score was tied 10 times in this set, the last time being at 22-22 when FSU pulled away to win the set 25-22. In the end, the third went similarly to how the first set, with Syracuse losing 25-14. 

The Orange aren’t letting this losing streak ruin their focus as they continue through the season. They still have another 12 games left on their schedule, and the team is focused on the future, not letting the past bother them.

“The past is in the past,” Veronica Sierzant said. “We lost eight games? Ok, that happens, we’re gonna learn from it and move on.”

The Orange have a quick turnaround as they lace up against RV Virginia on Wednesday at 7 pm.