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Ella Saada stepped up to the serving line late in the fifth set. SU led by one point and was four points away from its first victory of the spring season. The ball nearly hit the middle of the court, but Clemson’s Crystal Childs made a diving dig to keep the rally alive. Setter McKenna Slavik received the pass and set to outside hitter Camryn Hannah.

Like she had done 34 times before that night, Hannah went up for an attack. The ball grazed the arms of Syracuse libero Lauren Hogan and flew over the scorers table to tie the final set at 11-11. Hannah killed the ball on the following point, too, giving the Tigers a late lead.

Hannah tacked on one more kill before the Orange took the set and the match. Even with a narrow victory, Syracuse (5-5, 5-5 Atlantic Coast) still struggled to detain Clemson’s (10-7, 4-6) attack, especially Hannah, whose 37 kills were the most in a single ACC game this season. Hannah had 25 more total attacks than her next teammate and led the team with a .380 hitting percentage.

“Usually you don’t want to change much,” head coach Leonid Yelin said. “(Defense) is something you prepare your team for … and if we’re going to start changing that based on someone performing, we are destroying something we cannot build.”

Hannah made her presence felt with seven kills in each of the first two sets. With SU leading 19-15 in the second set, Hannah attacked the ball directly to Hogan. Hogan was able to make contact but watched as the ball deflected off her arms to the scorers’ table.

After only having four kills in the third set, Hannah went on an absolute tear in the fourth. The outside hitter tallied 14 total kills, more than half the Tigers’ points. With the score at 23-17 and Syracuse trying to stage a late comeback, the freshman ended the set with back-to-back kills. On the final point, after Viktoriia Lohkmanchuk barely served the ball over the net, Hannah was once again set up by Slavik for another powerful spike. SU middle blocker Abby Casiano attempted to block it at the net, but the ball deflected out of bounds.

In the final set, Hannah accounted for seven of Clemson’s ten kills, including their final three kills. While he didn’t want to change his defensive alignment, Yelin made one small change to contain Hannah and the Clemson attack in a close final set. 

“Since I felt that they were not going to take a risk now and play in the middle (of the court) … I asked my left and right hitters to close their hitters,” Yelin said. 

The change was apparent as outside hitters Lohkmanchuk and freshman Naomi Franco didn’t attack the middle of the court at all in the final set. The Orange took the set, but not before Hannah made three more kills.

“She was so great,” Lohkmanchuk said. “I feel that we need more work on moving our hands (at the net).”

Published on March 7, 2021 at 7:56 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com