With postseason hopes bleak, Orange volleyball needs 2 wins against Big East’s best
The season is on the line. The only option for the Syracuse volleyball team is to win. But it won’t be easy. The prospects are bleak.
SU (23-7, 5-7) faces the top-two teams in the Big East conference in Cincinnati and Louisville this weekend. Upset both and SU has a good shot at making the Big East tournament, contingent upon Pittsburgh and St. John’s performances this weekend as well. As of Thursday, all three teams have Big East records of 5-7.
SU sits behind Pitt and in front of St John’s in ninth place in the conference, SU lost to the Panthers but beat the Red Storm earlier in the season. Only eight teams qualify for the tournament.
‘I think if we have that mentality going into these two games then we’ll hopefully do some amazing things,’ SU outside hitter Hayley Todd said.
leak, Orange volleyball needs 2 wins against Big East’s bestThe Panthers currently hold the tie breaker over SU for that last spot over the Orange with its win earlier in the season. But because Pitt will be playing its first game of the season against St. John’s this weekend, things could get even more fuzzy.
If the Panthers beat SJU, it will have the tiebreaker over both St. John’s and Syracuse. But if SJU beats Pitt, then it becomes a three-way tie between all three teams. A tie means the conference will have to go more in depth for the season statistics of each team, SU assistant coach Carol LaMarche said.
It may be one weekend, but there is long way to go before the final tournament team surfaces. And despite the long odds, Syracuse feels that it will put themselves in the most attractive of positions. They feel they can win both.
‘We want to go out this weekend winning two,’ assistant coach Carol LaMarche said. ‘It doesn’t matter who the teams are on the other side of the court.’
LaMarche shares her attitude with her players. They’re not intimidated by the likes of the Bearcats and the Cardinals. Even though the Orange isn’t favored to win either game, anything can happen in the Big East.
The team remains focused on winning. Losing never enters their mind. And it can’t, if SU wants to win and make the Big East tournament.
Syracuse plans to play like the team that started the season 17-0 in this final two-game stretch. The Orange plays its best when it is relaxed and having fun — playing like it has nothing to lose, Todd said.
But heart alone won’t get the team wins against the best teams in the league. Which is why the team has a game plan for Cincinnati. One it hopes will get it the win, something 11 of Cincinnati’s 12 Big East opponents failed to do this season.
In the second game of the weekend, SU faces a Louisville team that is not as highly ranked as Cincinnati. But the Cardinals did give the Bearcats its only Big East loss this season. The Cardinals will prove to be a tough challenge. But not an impossible hurdle like in years past.
‘Louisville’s not as intimidating to us as it used to be,’ LaMarche said. ‘They’re a little more level but they’re still a really good team. Anything can happen.’
If Syracuse gets the Louisville coach yelling, that is a good sign for SU, LaMarche said. That means Louisville has done something wrong and the Orange has a good chance of winning.
But for everything to click this weekend, everyone on the team must step up. There is no room for errors anymore. Not with the season living or dying with these two final games.
‘We all need to be playing at the same time and have everyone on at the same time because we’ve been lacking that lately,’ senior captain Sarah Hayes said. ‘All we can do is give our best.’
If SU leaves everything on the court, it could win both games. That may seem unrealistic to outsiders. Beating the top teams in the league in back-to-back games seems too tough. But not to the Orange.
This is a team that raced off to the best start in program history. It may be 5-7 in the Big East, but swap a couple of its close games, and SU could just as easily be 7-5.
LaMarche wouldn’t be surprised if Syracuse won both games. This team is 23-7. She feels the record speaks for itself.
‘We’re a good team,’ LaMarche said. ‘We’d be super-ecstatic (if we won both), but this team can do it.’
Come Friday, the team faces its first test against Cincinnati. A team SU believes it can beat. The same will be true against Louisville just two days later.
‘All you can think about is winning,’ Todd said. ‘That’s the game plan.’
Published on November 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu
