Despite dropping the third set after winning the first two, Syracuse (8-2) defeated Navy (2-10) in four sets at the Women’s Building on Sunday morning.

The Orange found itself in an early hole down 12-5 in the first set, but won eight of the next nine points to tie the set at 13. During that span, senior outside hitter Monika Salkute recorded two kills and redshirt senior outside hitter Nicolette Serratore hit two kills of her own.
The score stayed tight from there, not reaching a three point deficit until Syracuse was up 23-20, and the Orange went on to win it 25-23.

The Orange opened with a three point run in the second set and expanded that lead to 8-2, going on to win the set 25-15.

Syracuse never held the lead in the third set. It seemed to be Navy’s set to lose as it held a 24-17 lead, and while the Orange scored five consecutive points from there, the Midshipwomen took it 25-22.

Syracuse came out strong early on in the fourth set, taking an 8-5 lead, but Navy scored the next three points to tie it. Navy was in good position to force a fifth set with a 24-22 lead, but the Orange won two points in a row to tie it.

Salkute ended the match with 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .250. Serratore was the kills leader for the Orange, scoring 17 of them. She scored them over the course of 61 attempts, which was 33 attempts more than the next highest in the category on either team.

While the Orange’s hitting percentage was low at only 0.167, the team made up for that deficiency with a strong blocking effort, scoring 21 block assists and three solo blocks in the match.

Gosia Wlaszczuk continued to suffer from an apparent hand injury, only notching 20 assists, but freshman Jalissa Trotter helped her out with 17 of her own.

The Orange will attempt to complete the sweep at its home tournament tonight against Buffalo at the Women’s Building.

Published on September 20, 2015 at 1:18 pm

Contact Kevin: kjpacell@syr.edu