Orange Beat Eagles for Fourth Straight Win

Wednesday, November 6

Chestnut Hill, MA

5 pm

Syracuse University

8-11, 5-7ACC

Boston College

17-8, 8-4ACC

Syracuse

Boston College

11/6/2019 8:42:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. – Sophomore captain Polina Shemanova continued her stellar play as Syracuse volleyball (9-11, 6-7 ACC) took down Boston College (17-9, 8-5 ACC) in five sets on Wednesday night in Chestnut Hill. Shemanova posted 32 kills, good for second most in her career, after setting a school record with 36 kills in Sunday's victory over Louisville.

The Eagles led 2-1 after three sets and the Orange took the fourth, 25-20, to extend the match to a deciding fifth set. 'Cuse dominated the final frame, 15-8, and took the second set, 25-17. Boston College won the first and third sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-21, respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Orange lost the opening set for the third consecutive match. After scoring the first three points of the match, Syracuse allowed a 7-2 Eagle scoring run, giving them a 9-5 advantage. Kills from Shemanova and Yuliia Yastrub leveled the score at 12, but BC opened up an 18-13 cushion on the back of two kills from sophomore Jewel Strawberry. The Orange battled back to within three, but the Eagles secured the set and a 1-0 lead in the match.

After going up 7-4 in the second frame, Syracuse extended their lead to 15-9, forcing BC to call timeout. Five different Orange registered a kill in that span, and Elena Karakasi logged two of her seven kills. Syracuse never lost control, taking the stanza by eight points and evening the match.

The third set was made up of the teams putting together runs. BC took an early 6-3 lead and the Orange fought back to go on top, 8-7. The Eagles responded with a 7-1 run, forcing head coach Leonid Yelin to call a timeout. Syracuse called another timeout trailing 16-10, and clawed back to only trail 23-21. The Eagles called a timeout and kept the Orange off the scoreboard to take a 2-1 lead in the contest. Shemanova notched nine kills in the third.

Until Syracuse took a 22-19 lead, neither team built an advantage larger than two points in the fourth game. With the score knotted at 19, Shemanova posted four kills to give the set point to the Orange. Eagle junior Clare Naughton provided a kill for BC, but Abby Casiano clinched the set for 'Cuse with a kill, forcing a deciding fifth frame.

The final set was all Orange. The squad opened a 10-3 advantage thanks to kills from four different players and a Shemanova service ace. A BC attack error clinched the fourth consecutive win for Syracuse.

NOTEWORTHY
Shemanova's 32 kills are the third most in a match in Syracuse history. Since the program was started in 1972, there have been five matches where a 'Cuse player has posted more than 30 kills and the St. Petersburg, Russia native has accounted for three of those. She has had more than 20 kills in her last five matches, the longest such streak of her career.

Karakasi reached 50 assists for the second time in her career.

Dana Gardner set career-highs in kills (4) and blocks (7). Yastrub tied her career-high and set a new season-high with seven block assists. Casiano's seven block assists were also a career-high. The Orange out-blocked the Eagles 15-6 in the match.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Orange host Virginia Tech (9-16, 2-10) on Sunday at the Women's Building for Military Appreciation Day. The match is set to get underway at 12 p.m. and will be televised live on ACC Network Extra. Admission and parking are free to all Syracuse volleyball home matches.

For continued coverage of Syracuse Volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@CuseVB), Instagram (@cusevb) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Volleyball).