Volleyball Falls in First Two Matches of Season

Friday, August 25

Wichita, Kan.

9:30 a.m.

Syracuse University

Eastern Washington

Joscie Kaup is 13 digs shy of becoming the ninth SU player to reach 1,000 career digs

8/25/2006 12:59:48 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Eastern Washington Box Score

Texas San Antonio Box Score

Wichita, Kan. – Syracuse lost its first two matches of the season, falling to Eastern Washington and Texas San Antonio at the 2006 Best Western Volleyball Classic, hosted by Wichita State. The Orange lost to Eastern Washington in the first match of the day 3-0 (30-24, 30-20, 30-24) and to Texas San Antonio later in the afternoon 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-20).

Junior Joscie Kaup totaled 33 digs on the day, raising her career total to 1,004. She is the ninth player in school history to register 1,000 career digs.

Against Eastern Washington, junior Cheryl Cobbina recorded a team-high 11 kills and added five digs. Kaup led the team with 16 digs and sophomore April Quigley led the team with 22 assists and added five digs.

“We had our first real test with the new team without a win,” said head coach Jing Pu after the Eastern Washington match. “Our serving, passing and blocking performed at a competitive level, but our offense did not show its potential yet.”

Trailing 12-9 in the first game, Syracuse outscored Eastern Washington 8-2 to take a three point lead. The Eagles used a late 10-2 run to take control of the first game and continued their momentum in the second game, using two separate five-point rallies to take a 2-0 lead. In the third game, Syracuse rallied from an early five-point deficit and cut the Eagles’ lead to 21-20. Eastern Washington responded by scoring the next five points en route to the six-point victory.

Cobbina recorded a double-double in SU’s second match against Texas San-Antonio. She posted a team-high 10 kills to go along with 11 digs. Kaup led the team with 17 digs. Quigley recorded 20 assists and freshmen Samantha Ainsworth added 12. Sophomore Brittany Kern posted a career-high nine kills and classmate Jacki Kliment registered a personal-best eight digs.

"The team did better in some areas even though we did not win the second match," Pu said after SU's second loss of the day. "Our captain Kaup had productive performanecs in passing and defense on the first day of the season Junior Cobbina had double number of kills in both matches and reduced her errors in the second match."

The Roadrunners jumped to an early four-point lead and stretched their lead to as much as six points. The Orange rallied to tie the game at 17 before Texas San Antonio scored seven-straight point to take control of the first game. The second game saw the two teams trade leads. The Roadrunners outscored the Orange 8-5 to take a two-game advantage. Texas San Antonio quickly jumped to an early lead in third game. They led by as much as much as six points. Syracuse pulled within 20-16 only to see the Roadrunners respond by scoring the next eight points.

Syracuse continues play at the Best Western Volleyball Classic tomorrow with matches against Louisiana Tech at 2:30 and against the host-team Shockers at 7:30.