Orange edged by Oregon State in three sets

Friday, September 2

Lincoln, NE

4:30 pm

Syracuse University

0-3

Oregon State

3-1

Syracuse

Oregon State

9/2/2016 6:08:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Third-set effort not enough in road loss

LINCOLN, Neb. – In their first road trip of the season, the Syracuse volleyball team battled hard against the Beavers of Oregon State, but were unable to overcome the Pac-12 team and fell in three sets (10-25, 19-25, 20-25) in their first game of the Nebraska Invite at the Devaney Center.

"We're seeing the team progress in a positive way in their confidence on the floor and the overall mentality that they can come to a game in," associate head coach Erin Little said. "They can see how physical we are and how we can match up against a lot of the top teams in the country. It's just going to be being able to play together and get comfortable with all new players next to you."

Freshman Mackenzie Weaver led the Orange attack with eight kills, hitting .538 percent on the night. Sophomore Anastasiya Gorelina tallied five kills, while junior Amber Witherspoon had four.

Junior Leah Levert led Syracuse in blocks with three assisted stops at the net. Sophomore Santita Ebangwese and Weaver added two apiece to the Orange defense.

From the back court, junior Belle Sand tallied 12 digs for 'Cuse.

"I think this tournament has provided a lot of experience for the young team," Little said. "They're getting comfortable playing together, figuring out in what situation they need to put in everything that we've learned. I think it's been very beneficial experience-wise and they'll only continue to get better as the season progresses and as we get ready for ACC play."

The Orange (0-3, 0-0 ACC) grabbed the first kill of the game thanks to Gorelina, but the Beavers were able to get on the board with a service error from sophomore Annie Bozzo. Oregon State (3-1, 0-0 Pac-12) registered a pair of service aces and a kill to jump out to a 4-1 lead, but an attack error lessened the gap, 4-2.

The Beavers went on a five-point run to bring the score to 11-3, but 'Cuse was able to capitalize on a ball handling error from Oregon State to grab another point and bring the score up, 4-11.

The pair traded points back-and-forth, until the Beavers went on a 9-3 run to close out the first set, 25-10, over the Orange.

The Orange took an early lead in the second, 3-2, but the Beavers were able to battle back to even the score at three apiece.

Through back-and-forth action, 'Cuse battled the Beavers to bring the game within just one point on seven occasions. The momentum from the Orange wasn't enough however, as Oregon State surged ahead to take game two, 25-19.

Syracuse kept the game within three points through the first part of the third set, as three Orange in Levert, Witherspoon and Weaver made kills to bring the score to 8-10.

The Beavers set out and took a six-point lead (16-10) in the middle of the third set, but the Orange gained a point back from a Beaver service error.

'Cuse pushed through until the end of the third set, narrowing the separation to only four points, but were unable to close the gap completely as the Beavers closed out the third set on top, 25-20.

"We hope to see this continued progression and that they can come back with a mentality of continuing to get experience and coming out to play with confidence and building on what they're already doing every day in practice," Little said.

"We scheduled tough competition for them, and with that, you're only going to get better. We hope that they can approach it with a fighting mentality."

The Orange return to action tomorrow when they take on Iowa State in a 6 p.m. (ET) game at the Devaney Center to close out the Nebraska Invite.

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