Orange Win Syracuse Invitational

Saturday, August 28

Syracuse, NY

7 pm

Syracuse University

3-0,0-0ACC

Albany

1-2,0-0America East

Albany (NY)

Syracuse

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

8/28/2021 10:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse swept opening weekend to win the Syracuse Invitational title. The Orange beat Albany, 3-0, on Saturday to close the weekend with a 3-0 record. Syracuse beat Buffalo (3-2) and Connecticut (3-0) on Friday. Orange junior Marina Markova earned Syracuse Invitational Most Valuable Player honors and senior Polina Shemanova was recognized on the all-tournament team.

"From game to game we were getting better, that's what was important," said head coach Leonid Yelin. "Any win is helpful. These games showed us what we can practice and how we need to do things much cleaner. We need less unforced errors. But these games, they were a good start."

Markova paced the Orange offense against Albany, recording 15 kills. In the three tournament matches, she posted 42 kills and had 21 digs. Shemanova, who recorded 10 kills and 11 digs against the Great Danes, had 47 kills and 42 digs in three matches.

Against Albany, the Orange won the first set, 25-12, using a 12-3 run to open an 8-6 advantage to a 20-9 margin before closing out the set. In the second set, Markova put away seven kills to lead the Orange to the 25-15 win. The Orange used strong play at the net to close out the third set, scoring six of their final eight points on kills for the 25-20 win.

Of Note:

Senior Polina Shemanova increased her career kills total to 1,069, which ranks 13th on the Syracuse career kills record list. She passed Nicolette Serratore (1,068 kills from 2011 to 2015).
Freshmen Diana Akopova, Riley Hoffman and Peyton O'Brien made their Syracuse debuts at the Syracuse Invitational.

Up Next:
Syracuse will travel to New Haven, Conn. to play matches against Quinnipiac (Sept. 3 at 11 am), Yale (Sept. 3 at 7:30 pm) and Hartford (Sept. 4 at 1 pm) next weekend.

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