Syracuse (22-14, 12-8 Atlantic Coast) was defeated 3-0 by West Virginia (21-12, 6-10 Big 12) on Monday night in Morgantown, West Virginia in the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Despite holding three-point leads in all three sets, the Orange faltered down the stretch in each set, losing 25-22, 25-22, 25-18. This loss ends SU’s season.
For the first time since Nov. 12, SU had zero attackers register double-digit kills. The Orange was led by a trio of offensive players: Amber Witherspoon, Mariia Levanova, and Ella Saada. Witherspoon and Levanova tallied eight kills each, with Saada adding six. Levanova’s eight kills are her third-highest tally of the season. In her final collegiate game, libero Belle Sand registered 16 digs.
“I was very pleased with how Mariia played today,” head coach Leonid Yelin said. “After not playing for two years, she probably was our best hitter on the floor today,”
Despite Witherspoon’s six blocks, SU struggled to contain WVU’s leading attacker, Peyton Caffrey. She posted 19 kills and three aces on 48 attack attempts, leading the Mountaineers in both categories. She was set up for kills more than twice as much as any other Mountaineer. After finishing sets out against Albany and Towson in the opening rounds of the tournament, the Orange failed to capitalize on the leads it had early in sets.
In the opening set, Syracuse led 22-18 and was on its way to winning its seventh consecutive playoff set. Then, the Mountaineers won the final seven points of the opener, four points coming from SU attack errors. Despite 12 ties and five lead changes, the Mountaineers late run proved too much for the Orange to overcome.
“It was so hard for them to focus and concentrate,” Yelin said. “West Virginia was so loose, playing at home, and they did a good job.”
The Orange led yet again in the second set, 13-11. The Mountaineers won 6-of-7 points, taking control of the set with a 17-14 lead. Even as the Orange won 3-of-4 points to pull within one again, a service error by Sand and two WVU kills put the set out of reach as WVU took a two-set lead into the break.
Syracuse grabbed yet another lead early in the third, leading 9-6 before slowly seeing the set slip away. Later in the set, leading 18-17, West Virginia scored seven of the final eight points, ending the SU season as Caffrey posted three kills in four points to win the set 25-18.
“We want to play in this tournament, because we never had this experience to play this time of the year,” Yelin said. “Hopefully we learn something from this and come back next year better.”
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