No. 8 Pittsburgh Hands 'Cuse Its First ACC Loss of the Season

Friday, October 5

Pittsburgh, PA

6 pm

Syracuse University

8-5, 4-1

Pitt

16-0, 5-0

Syracuse

Pitt

No. 8 Pittsburgh Hands 'Cuse Its First ACC Loss of the Season

10/5/2018 9:05:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Syracuse volleyball team was unable to overtake unbeaten No. 8 Pittsburgh Friday afternoon, despite a third set victory. Syracuse took its first loss of ACC play by set scores of 9-25, 23-25, 25-23 and 11-25.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After a slow start in the first set, Syracuse (8-5, 4-1 ACC) matched Pittsburgh (16-0, 5-0 ACC) point-for-point to open set two, 4-4. The Orange moved out to a 12-11 lead before a pair of errors allowed Pitt to respond with back-to-back kills for a 15-13 lead. Both teams continued to trade points as a block by Santita Ebangwese tied the match at 20-20. Following a timeout, Pitt closed out the first set with a pair of kills.

Syracuse used four unanswered points, including back-to-back blocks, for a 7-4 lead in the third set. Pittsburgh quickly closed the gap, 10-8, before scoring three straight points and taking an 11-10 lead. Yuliia Yastrub halted the Panthers run, equaling the score at 11. After eight ties and three lead changes, both teams remained tied at 20-20. A pair of attack errors from the Panthers gave 'Cuse a 23-21 lead. Shemanova closed out the set with two kills giving the Orange their sole set victory of the night.

OF NOTE
Syracuse, who leads the ACC in blocks per set, out-blocked its opponent for the eighth time this season. The Orange recorded 15 total blocks behind a game-high 10 from Ebangwese. Freshman Polina Shemanova led the Orange for the 12^th time this season with 10 kills. Shemanova nearly missed her seventh double-double of the season as she added eight digs behind Kendra Lukacs' team-high 12.

UP NEXT
Syracuse travels to take on Virginia Sunday. The 1 p.m. match will be broadcast live on ACCN Extra. The Orange return to the Women's Building Friday, Oct. 12 as they host Miami at 7 p.m.