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Riley Hoffman stared at Pittsburgh’s defense on the opposite side of the floor before bouncing the ball three times. Ashley Browske had to get down on one knee to dig Hoffman’s serve, and eventually Rachel Fairbanks sent the ball back to the net.

Polina Shemanova mirrored Fairbanks’ upward motion, reaching up with both of her arms to block the attempt. Two Pitt players laid out to try and keep the ball up, but the Orange tied the game at 22-22.

Both teams traded points again before a kill from Chiamaka Nwokolo and a setting error by Franco to give Pitt a first set win.

Syracuse (10-13, 6-7 Atlantic Coast) battled in the first set against No. 7 Pittsburgh (23-2, 16-0 ACC), but it couldn’t come up with enough plays at the end of the set. The first set would be the closest for the Orange, who were swept. Pitt’s victory was its 16th straight on the season while Syracuse dropped its fourth straight.

“There’s a reason why they’re undefeated in ACC play,” Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “They play at a really high level and what makes a difference is to play really consistently at that level by not making a lot of unforced errors.”

Shemanova (12) and Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk (14) were the only Syracuse players to reach double figure kills. Pitt slowed down Syracuse’s other options as no other player notched more than five kills. Pitt held Franco and Shemanova to their second lowest kill totals from the season.

Syracuse was close for the majority of the three sets, but it faltered in key moments. Ganesharatnam said that having a “killer instinct” to prevail in those points is crucial, but that takes time to develop.

Most of those vital plays came at the end of sets, and Syracuse struggled to finish them out. Syracuse led 15-14 in the second set, but a service error from Lokhmanchuk tied it up. The error started a run where the Panthers scored six of the next seven points, winning 25-18.

The height of Pitt’s front line proved to cause problems for SU’s with multiple players standing at 6-foot-2 or above. Still, Syracuse’s outside hitters were aggressive. If their attempt was blocked, the response in the next couple of plays is what’s important.

“For me, it’s really just telling myself that there’s no block that I can’t get through or can’t get around,” Franco said. “Every block can be broken down if you really think about it, so it’s just keeping that mindset throughout.”

Pitt got off to a fast start in the third set, jumping out to a 9-3 lead before Syracuse settled in. SU battled back, a Shemanova kill cut the Pitt lead to 14-13 in the middle of the set, but the Panthers responded with another big run. Valeria Vazquez Gomez finished off the game with her eighth kill, giving Pitt a 25-19 win in the final set.

Pitt was led by Courtney Buzzerio who had 14 kills, followed by Fairbanks who had 11, with five other Pitt players recording a kill. The Panthers were consistent all night long on its attacks with a hit percentage of 0.313. Pitt also recorded five service aces compared to Syracuse’s two on the night.

Published on November 4, 2022 at 11:53 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22