Over the course of the Syracuse volleyball team’s 17 straight wins to start the season, the Orange did not have many missed serves. SU did not have many missed digs. And Syracuse did not have any set losses to a New York state team.

But in the team’s first set of its match on Wednesday against in-state rival Binghamton, the team that was on the court looked unfamiliar. It was the furthest thing from the team that looked unstoppable just one week before.

‘I think the first set, we were just sort of not ourselves,’ senior outside hitter Hayley Todd said. ‘Sort of slow to warm up.’

But it was the same team. Syracuse dropped the first set 25-23 and looked sluggish at the outset, with its defense appearing lost at times and its offense hardly resembling the balanced one fans have come to see this season. However, the Orange got its act together and roared back to win the final three sets of the match in dominating fashion. SU won those sets by scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-11, for the 3-1 win at the Women’s Building on Wednesday.

‘We got a little bit angry at ourselves after that first set, and we had to pull up our socks and just change something,’ Todd said. ‘And luckily we did.’

Noemie Lefebvre led the attack with a game-high 17 kills, while Todd and Samantha Hinz added 14 and 12 kills, respectively.

The match started off slow for the Orange, which was coming off a five-set loss to South Florida the previous weekend. On top of that, SU was without Ashley Williams, the team’s libero and defensive leader.

‘I think (the first set) was just recovering from the weekend,’ assistant coach Carol LaMarche said. ‘We had a whole 16 games to get set with one lineup, and then all of a sudden we have to change it, and we hadn’t been forced to change it all preseason.’

But the team found its way in the second set when Lindsay McCabe went in the middle and Todd was moved to the outside.

‘Hayley hit really well, Lindsay blocked well,’ LaMarche said. ‘So I think that was kind of the big difference going into the second set.’

On the defensive end, Sarah Hayes took the role of the libero in place of Williams and was able to get the defense back to how it played in its wins. That, in turn, made the offense better. And once both sides were clicking, SU was off to get rid of Binghamton in a hurry.

‘We definitely picked up our passing,’ Lefebvre said. ‘We communicated well. Our offense was more successful because of that, and then the big difference was probably blocking and then our digging.’

In the second set, SU seemed to be involved in yet another tight one with the Bearcats. The Orange held a slight lead at 16-13. But thanks to two kills and one ace by Todd, SU went on a 7-0 run to take a 23-13 lead and ultimately had control of the set in the 25-14 win.

The third set played out like the second, with both teams even for the most part until SU finished strong at the end with another 7-0 run.

And by the time the fourth and final set came along, SU made sure the first set was a distant memory. The Orange went on an 11-0 run and steamrolled Binghamton in a 25-10 win.

That, Lefebvre said, was how the team should have been playing the whole time.

‘I feel like we just came in thinking it was going to be an easy game or just a regular week game where we can just win easily,’ Lefebvre said. ‘But I think we just woke up after the first set and realized that we were actually playing a good team, and we had to step up our game.’

Added Lefebvre: ‘If we forget about the first set, I think we played as we should have.’

The Orange can now look at this game and see two teams — the team that couldn’t get anything going in the first set, or the team that dominated in the final three sets.

The team seems to be favoring the latter.

‘I think it shows us that we can come back (after we) struggle,’ Todd said. ‘Being able to fight back from a silly loss like that is important.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on September 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu