Syracuse falls to Illinois State in three

Saturday, September 17

Cedar Falls, IA

11 am

Syracuse University

1-8

Illinois State

7-4

Illinois State

Syracuse

9/17/2016 12:50:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Three Orange record double-digit digs

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Looking to bounce back after a five-set loss to Northwestern last night, the Syracuse volleyball team was unable to do so, as it fell in three sets to Illinois State (17-25, 22-25, 20-25) on Saturday morning in Cedar Falls at the UNI Tournament.

Despite the loss, a pair of Orange tallied eight kills apiece, as sophomore Santita Ebangwese hit .467 percent and freshman Kendra Lukacs hit .111 percent.

Junior Leah Levert played a key role on offense in today's match, as she added seven kills.

Three Orange tallied double-digit digs on the game, as sophomore Jalissa Trotter led with 15 and junior Belle Sand and sophomore Annie Bozzo had 11 and 10, respectively.

Syracuse (1-8, 0-0 ACC) began the first set quickly, taking a 2-0 lead with Bozzo at the service line. ISU (7-5, 0-0 MVC) answered back with a pair of points to even the score at two.

Illinois State earned a 4-2 run to take the lead, but a kill from Ebangwese along with a service ace from Sand put the Orange back on top, 7-6.

Attacking errors plagued the Redbirds, giving the Orange the lead (10-8), but ISU capitalized on a 6-0 run to force the first Syracuse timeout.

ISU continued the run, adding a point to the score after the timeout (15-10 ISU), but a service error surrendered the serving advantage to the Orange.

The pair traded points back and fourth until the score reached 19-13 ISU, forcing the Orange to call their second timeout of the first set.

Syracuse grabbed four points late in the first set, but the Redbirds were able to tally six to reach 25 and close out the first set on top, 25-17.

The Orange and the Redbirds faced five lead changes and eight ties through the first 17 points of the game, before the Orange were able to take the first two-point lead of the game (10-8 SU).

ISU answered back quickly and tied the game at 11 before regaining the lead, 12-11.

A Redbird service error tied the game at 12, but ISU recovered quickly and took its first two-point lead of the game (14-12 ISU).

Sophomore Anastasiya Gorelina and freshman Mackenzie Weaver combined for a pair of kills to even the score at 14, before an attacking error on ISU gave the Orange the lead once again (15-14 SU).

The pair endured another two lead changes and two tie games after the media timeout, as they inched closer to the 25-point mark. ISU grabbed onto a 20-17 lead late in the second, forcing the Syracuse timeout.

'Cuse and Illinois State went point-for-point out of the timeout until the score reached 22-19 ISU. The Redbirds tallied another point to extend the lead to four points (23-19 ISU), forcing the Syracuse timeout.

A kill from Lukacs and a stop at the net from Gorelina and Ebangwese brought the Orange to 21. An attacking error from the Redbirds closed the ISU lead to just two points (24-22 ISU) to force the Illinois State timeout.

Illinois State closed out the second set after the timeout with a kill, 25-22.

The Orange came out of the break looking to turn things around, as they tallied a 5-2 run to take the lead early on.

ISU fought back, but a service ace from freshman Polina Prokudina solidified the Orange three-point lead (8-5 SU).

The Redbirds evened the score at eight thanks to a pair of kills and a service ace, but the Orange remained unsatisfied as Ebangwese answered with a kill of her own to regain the lead.

'Cuse took yet another three-point lead after back-to-back kills from Weaver and Gorelina (11-8 SU), but ISU shrank the lead to just two points (11-9).

A 6-1 ISU run surrendered the lead to the Redbirds in the middle of the third set, as the pair headed into the media timeout.

ISU continued the run out of the media timeout, taking a four-point stance over the Orange (16-12 ISU).

A 2-1 Redbird run left the score with ISU on top (18-13), forcing the Syracuse timeout.

A service ace from Sand and a kill from Ebangwese helped the Orange to a 4-1 run out of the timeout (19-17 ISU), helping to push an Illinois State timeout.

The Redbirds capitalized on a 3-1 run out of the timeout to force yet another Orange timeout late in the third (22-18 ISU).

A 3-2 Redbird run helps secure set three, 25-20, and the match in straight sets.

The Orange return to action tonight, taking on tournament host UNI at 8 p.m. ET.

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