SU falls to No. 19 Florida State, moves to 0-8 in ACC play

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In the third set against Miami on Friday, Bakeer Ganesharatnam saw massive improvements in his team. Going into SU’s eighth Atlantic Coast Conference match and second of a four-game home stretch, Ganesharatnam wanted to build on its last performance.

“One of the things we talked about was the energy level that was really helpful for us to execute on the court,” Ganesharatnam said. “That’s something we wanted to have from the get-go in this match.”

Despite tallying more kills, aces and assists while improving its hitting percentage from its loss against the Hurricanes, Syracuse could not translate an increased performance into a better result. On Sunday, Syracuse (12-8, 0-8 ACC) fell in straight sets to No. 19 Florida State (14-4, 6-2 ACC) for SU’s second loss in as many days. The loss moves Syracuse’s conference losing streak to 26.

The Seminoles and the Orange traded points to begin the first set with kills from FSU’s Maddie Snider, Khori Louis and Audrey Koenig and a kill from SU’s Syndey Moore. Louis, who scored eight kills in the 3-2 win away against Boston College on Friday, matched her total from the win against the Eagles midway through the second set against the Orange.

She finished with 14 kills at a .565 hitting clip, while Snider scored five and reigning Co-ACC Player of the Year, Koenig registered 10.

A pair of service errors from both sides took the game to 7-5 in favor of the Seminoles. FSU racked up 10 service errors in the match, twice as many as SU. From there, an ensuing 9-3 run, highlighted by kills from Taylor Head, Louis and Koenig, opened up a six-point lead for the Seminoles.

Following a Syracuse timeout, the match’s momentum stayed on FSU’s side. Aces from FSU’s Kyleene Filimaua and SU’s Skylar George put the score at 16-10. Kills from Iane Henke, Kenna Phelan and Snider opened the lead to 19-11.

A kill from Ava Palm and an ace from Greta Schlicter cut the lead down to six, but a 6-2 run that ended with a Louis block won the first set for Florida State at 25-15.

Schlicter, one of six returning players, trusts that the Orange can bounce back from its eight-game losing streak based on being a part of Syracuse’s worst season in program history last season.

“We can’t compare this at all with what happened last year,” Schlicter said. “Last year was a fluke. In the practices, I really feel that spark and the ability to really play great volleyball. It’s not just luck that we get over 20 points and compete with teams like Miami and Florida State.”

In the second set, Syracuse improved and went toe-to-toe with FSU. SU earned its first lead of the match at 2-1 after Koenig committed an attacking error. A George kill moved the lead to 3-1.

The Seminoles came racing back with a 4-0 run with kills from Kelsey Perry, Koening and Henke and a George attacking error. FSU hit at a .368 clip in the match, only recording nine errors with 106 attempts. Coming into the match, Florida State was fifth in the ACC in hitting percentage (.256) against conference opponents, while Syracuse was last, hitting at a .101 clip against ACC opponents.

Different from the first set, Syracuse was able to come back to tie the match at 5-5. However, after a 4-0 run from FSU, Ganesharatnam called a timeout with his side down 9-5.

After the timeout, Syracuse went on a run of its own. George and Palm each scored two kills to tie the game 9-9, leading to FSU’s first timeout of the match. Palm and George, who both scored three kills in the loss against Miami, recorded 12 and six against FSU, respectively.

SU and FSU continued to exchange blows. A Zharia Harris-Waddy kill tied the game at 11. Subsequently, a pair of kills from Koeng and kills from Louis and Head opened a four-point lead, calling for another Syracuse timeout.

Back-to-back kills from Palm cut the lead to two at 15-13 and kills from Sara Wasiakowska and Zharia Harris-Waddy brought them within one at 16-15. But, FSU kept straying away from the Orange, opening the lead to 18-15.

But, Syracuse kept clawing, tying the game at 19-19 and a pair of George service aces. After a subsequent FSU timeout, a block from Veronica Sierzant gave the Orange the lead again at 20-19. Sierzant totaled 11 assists in the second set, five more than in the first and third set.

“Our passes at the beginning were a little shaky, but then stabilized and that second set I thought I was really good, which helped our offense immensely,” Ganesharatnam said.

A Sierzant kill for SU answered a Henke kill for FSU. With the game at 21-21, a Louis kill and block gave FSU a short lead until Harris-Waddy tied it back up at 22-22 with her fourth kill of the match. However, three straight kills from FSU took the second set out of Syracuse’s reach.

The Orange started the third set just as they were playing the second. A Filimaua service error and a Palm kill gave them an early 2-0 lead, which turned into a 4-1 lead after a Sneider attacking error and a block from Palm and Harris-Waddy.

However, its momentum from the second set did not translate into the third set. A Phelan kill took the set to 6-5 in favor of the Seminoles and FSU did not look back.

“Florida State really performed even better in that third set,” Ganesharatnam said. “They really put a lot of pressure on our assets with their service.”

FSU hit at a .438 hitting clip, over a 40% increase compared to their second-set hitting percentage (.311). After Phelan’s kill at 6-5, FSU held the lead throughout the rest of the set, eventually winning the set at 25-14.

“We all knew coming into the season it was going to be hard,” Sierzant said. “But we all have that mindset to never give up and we know what we’re doing. If we keep working hard, it’s going to come out in the outcome we want it to.”

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