High-Five; Orange Wins Fifth Straight

Tuesday, September 11

Binghamton, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Binghamton

Syracuse captured its fifth straight win after posting a 3-0 sweep against Binghamton.

9/11/2007 9:28:22 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - The state of New York continues to shine Orange as the Syracuse volleyball team improved its record to 4-0 against teams from the Empire State with a 3-0 sweep of Binghamton Tuesday night. Senior Cheryl Cobbina collected her sixth double-double of the season, while pairing a team-high 18 kills with 11 digs as the Orange captured its fifth straight win.

"It's definitely important to defend the state and I think that the upperclassmen know it the most," said senior captain Joscie Kaup of the club's local success. "When I was a sophomore, we had a chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament, and if we had beaten some more of the teams from New York, we would have had a better chance."

The Bearcats came into the evening sporting a 14-match home win streak that dates back to the 2005 season. Fittingly, the last team to defeat Binghamton on the West Gym Court was the Orange.

"I think it was pretty motivating going into tonight knowing that they haven’t lost here in awhile," said sophomore Kacie MacTavish, who tallied eight kills and 10 digs. "Their fans were pretty loud, but we were able to build off of that and put together some good runs."

Junior Emily Kaier led the Orange out of the gates in the third game with two quick kills. The Syracuse advantage was doubled to 8-4 after junior Brittany Kern posted one of her three total blocks. Cobbina's six kills in the final stanza was best for the Orange as sophomore Sarah Morton posted four of her nine kills. Sophomore Samantha Ainsworth served 10 of her career-high 37 assists as Syracuse tallied its third three-game sweep in the last five matches.

As the Orange trailed 17-13 in game two, Syracuse head coach Jing Pu, fresh off winning his 250^th career match at SU over the weekend, used a timeout to subdue the Binghamton energy. Out of the timeout, freshman Mindy Stanislovaitis buried a momentum-swinging kill. From there, the Orange enjoyed a 14-6 run en route to taking a two-game advantage. Morton collected two critical kills and one block down the stretch before Cobbina's seventh kill of the frame sealed the game.

After trailing 5-1 early in game one, sophomore Shanetha McLaurin propelled the Orange on a 10-0 run and to a 15-6 advantage before Binghamton burned a timeout. Syracuse took control of the game with a combination of power and finesse from the offensive attack of Cobbina and Kern. Kern collected four kills and twice dropped soft touches in front of the Bearcats for Orange points. Cobbina paced the SU attack with five kills.

Kaup's team-high 16 digs led a Syracuse defense that collected 59 digs and 15 total blocks. Morton paced the Orange front line with four blocks while Kern and Stanislovaitis each added three.

As part of the University of New Hampshire Tournament, Syracuse will look to continue its winning ways on Friday against Southern Methodist at 4:30 p.m. The Orange return to the hardwood for a twin-bill on Saturday against host New Hampshire at 12:30 p.m. and Holy Cross at 4:30 p.m.