Syracuse had a perfect weekend.

The Orange had a huge bounce back performance this weekend after last tournament’s disastrous performances, winning all three matches in straight sets.

Syracuse walked away this weekend with its first tournament victory this season, beating Chicago State in straight sets on Saturday afternoon.

“Finally they started showing what we are practicing, the way we can play,” head coach Leonid Yelin said. “What we build now, hopefully it will help us next weekend.”

Syracuse began the Candlewood Suites Challenge on Friday afternoon with a 25-5 first-set victory over Saint Peter’s, and followed that up with set wins of 25-12 and 25-21.

Sophomore hitter Silvi Uattara, who was benched last weekend due to poor play, dominated the game, racking up a team-high 14 kills and five aces.

Freshman setter Erica Handley also provided a spark, dishing out 28 assists.

Syracuse played its second game of the tournament on Friday night, and the result was the same. SU had no trouble defeating Delaware State in straight sets.

The Orange won the first set 25-12 and cruised to a straight-sets victory, winning the final two 25-13 and 25-12. Uattara picked up 11 more kills to once again lead the team in points.

Handley again proved her value to the team, racking up a career-high five kills and providing 28 more assists — seven more than the entire Delaware State team combined.

“We have to find a way how to play against teams we absolutely have to beat,” Yelin said. “I knew we were going to beat them, I didn’t know we were going to beat them in that kind of manner.”

But the night was about more than just Uattara and Handley’s dominance. Junior Lindsay McCabe cracked the Top 10 in Syracuse’s all-time total blocks list.

The next day, she cracked the Top 10 in block assists in program history.

“It’s very exciting to have your name in the record books,” McCabe said. “And hopefully it will be something that I can look back on in a few years.”

With McCabe’s record-setting day, Syracuse cruised to its third and final straight-set sweep, winning the first two sets 25-15 and 25-9. The third set proved to be more of a daunting task as Chicago State put up a fight. After falling down 23-17, the Cougars pulled to within three, but it wasn’t enough. Handley set up sophomore Gosia Wlaszczuk for the kill to end the set 25-21.

In addition to McCabe’s effort, junior Nicolette Serratore also stepped up, leading the team with 12 kills and nine digs. Handley also turned in another solid performance, putting up a tournament-high 36 assists.

This tournament had a different vibe than the previous one, as the Orange came out with a lot more energy than last weekend. After a lackluster 1-5 start, SU took a step in the right direction.

“We just worked on the things we knew we needed to work on from last tournament,” Handley said. “And did just a lot more game-situation stuff and building off that, and getting our confidence up.”

Published on September 16, 2013 at 4:00 am

Contact Eric: esriter@syr.edu