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Syracuse’s outside hitter Marina Markova dug a Virginia Tech kill attempt and allowed freshman setter Peyton O’Brien to set up middle blocker Abby Casiano for an easy spike. The next point, Casiano and Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk blocked a kill attempt from the Hokies’ Griere Hughes, who fell back down with the ball in her lap, putting the Orange up 13-8. In the middle of a 7-0 run, SU cruised to a first set victory 25-17.

Syracuse (14-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) dominated Virginia Tech (9-7, 0-4 Atlantic Coast) in all aspects on Sunday, defeating the Hokies in straight sets. Last spring, SU lost to Virginia Tech in five sets. But Sunday, the Orange’s collective performance led to the team’s dominant display, complemented by strong performances by O’Brien and Casiano.

Usually, Elena Karakasi handles the majority of the setting on the Orange’s offense, but Sunday, O’Brien — in only her eighth appearance of the season — rotated with Karakasi frequently to share setting duties, allowing O’Brien to record 16 total assists in the match. It was her second-highest total so far this season.

O’Brien set the ball to a strong SU offense, which was led by Markova, Lokhmanchuk, Polina Shemanova and Naomi Franco. Casiano recorded five kills of her own, having the highest hit percentage for SU at .625.

Formation-wise, SU played with a 5-1 and 6-2 offensive formation. The 5-1 formation allows the team to have the same setter regardless of their position in the front or back row. In the 6-2 formation, a team will have two setters but it creates six attacking options. Head coach Leonid Yelin said SU prefers to play the 6-2 system, which meant O’Brien was rotated into the game frequently.

“We always want to play 6-2 because we can be bigger, stronger and have more options,” Yelin said. “So playing in this system, we have two setters and Peyton (being) one of them. She did what we needed to play 6-2.”

Defensively, SU had 14 more block assists, with Casiano recording five block assists. On the first point of the third set, Virginia Tech set up an attack only for the spike to be blocked by Casiano, who sent it all the way behind every VT player. 

“We were really really focused on timing because Virginia Tech’s timing is a little bit different. We had to get there and be really really patient,” Casiano said. 

Timing, patience and synchronization of the block were all keys to SU’s strong blocking performance in the win. Casiano would yell “Wait, wait” to tell her pin hitters before they would move over and jump for the block. 

“That was just my main focus, was being really patient,” she said postgame. 

Offensively, while the outside hitters usually recorded the majority of the kills, the attack often featured a fake kill attempt by Casiano. In the middle of the second set, Shemanova recorded a kill off an assist from Karakasi, but Casiano screamed “Yes, yes,” attempting to deceive the Hokies’ defense from thinking she would be the one completing the attack. This allowed for kills from Markova and Shemanova.

The win marks SU’s third straight conference win after suffering a loss at Boston College in September. Next weekend, the Orange will travel to Notre Dame and No. 3 Louisville, SU’s highest-ranked opponent this season. Both teams defeated Syracuse twice last season.

Published on October 3, 2021 at 5:48 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini