Volleyball Concludes Historic Season in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

Saturday, December 1

University Park, PA

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

19-9

Penn State

25-7

Syracuse

Penn State

Photo by: Tim Weight

Volleyball Concludes Historic Season in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

12/1/2018 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Following a historic season, the Syracuse volleyball team's 2018 campaign came to a conclusion Saturday evening in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Orange (19-9, 14-4 ACC) lost, 3-0, to eighth-seeded Penn State (25-7, 14-6 B10) at Rec Hall.

Syracuse's 2018 season is highlighted by the program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Orange made their tournament debut Friday evening where they swept Yale, 3-0. With a 19-9 record, the 2018 team ranks second in the country with 3.08 blocks per set. Picked to finish ninth in the preseason ACC poll, the Orange matched the program's top conference finish ever in fourth.

Polina Shemanova led the Orange Saturday night with 10 kills, marking her 26^th double-digit kill match of the season. Santita Ebangwese contributed six kills on 12 attacks while Ella Saada and Kendra Lukacs both added five.

Penn State was led by four players with double-digit kill performances, including a match-high 11 from Tori Gorrell.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State wasted no time in the first set running out to 4-0 lead. The Orange's offense struggled to get going with three early attack errors before Shemanova connected on 'Cuse's first kill of the night. The Nittany Lions strung together a pair of three-consecutive points for a comfortable 14-6 lead. Kendra Lukacs and Nia Reed traded points, each grabbing two kills, but the Orange were unable to piece together consecutive points, dropping the set 25-13.

Syracuse looked to have found the answer, opening the second set with a 9-9 tie. A 7-0 run, including back-to-back blocks from Lukacs and Ebangwese, gave the Orange its largest lead of the match, 16-10. After four straight errors, Penn State would not have another in the set quickly tying the match, 16-16, on a 6-0 run. Syracuse wasn't able to shift the momentum as the Nittany Lions scored nine of the final 13 points in the set for a 25-20 victory.

Both teams opened the set trading points back-and-forth for a 7-7 tie. Behind the serve of Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State's five-straight points would prove to be enough as they took the 12-8 lead and would not trail again. The Nittany Lions took the third set 25-16.

STELLAR SENIOR CLASS
Saturday marked the final collegiate match for Ebangwese, Anastasiya Gorelina, Christina Oyawale, Jalissa Trotter and Amber Witherspoon. Trotter led the Orange with 22 of its 29 assists and ends her career at Syracuse with 2,520, ranking eighth all-time in school history. Her 885 this season are the seventh most in the 25-point scoring format.

Ebangwese's career-hitting percentage of .351 is a new school record along with her single-season mark of .425. Her career totals also rank her second all-time with 484 block assists, sixth with 83 solo blocks, fourth with 567 total blocks and fourth with 1.24 blocks per set.

Witherspoon played arguably the best volleyball of her career this season setting a new school record for career blocks per set (1.36). Her single-season average of 1.53 blocks per set ranks second all-time while her 32 solo blocks tie for third in the 25-point scoring format.