Even with the best record of any Syracuse team this season, the volleyball team (17-9, 3-5 Big East) will not make the four-team Big East tournament.

Instead, the Orangewomen relish a new role — spoiler — beginning with a pair of home matches this weekend.

‘One of our goals now,’ freshman Kristen Conway said, ‘is to ruin other teams’ chances of getting into the tournament.’

Syracuse plays Boston College (12-13, 2-5) tonight at 7 and Providence (2-23, 0-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Women’s Building.

The Orangewomen’s inconsistent play against Big East opponents cost them a chance at a trip to the conference tournament, but they are still excited with their winning record and the chance to win down the stretch.

‘We’re like the spoilers now,’ freshman Jessica Logan said. “We can spoil everybody else’s fun.’

After this weekend’s matches against teams near the bottom of the Big East, Syracuse hosts first-place Notre Dame and travels to Virginia Tech and Miami — second and third place, respectively — to close out the season.

Head coach Jing Pu would like to see the Orangewomen improve on last season’s 3-9 Big East record, including losses in their last four matches.

‘Especially with such a large group of freshman,’ Pu said, ‘any improvement in our Big East record would be significant.’

Syracuse’s lone senior, co-captain Abby Van Mater, said she encourages anybody interested in seeing a Syracuse team with a winning record to come and see a match this weekend.

‘Its not like soccer when you can watch an entire match and nobody scores,’ Van Mater said. ‘In our matches somebody scores on every point.’

Still, the Orangewomen rarely attract more then a few dozen spectators to their matches.

‘Volleyball,’ freshman Aila Dommestrup said, ‘is the kind of sport that you can really see the excitement that the players have.’

‘You are so close to the court,’ Logan said, ‘when we get excited, it ripples off into the crowd.’

Pu said this year’s rule changes promoting more exciting play have worked, making the matches more competitive and watchable. The NCAA added a permanent defensive player to create longer volleys.

Logan said she would love to see more students attend games, especially next weekend, when the Orangewomen take on Notre Dame in their final home match.

‘(Students) need to come and watch us play,’ Logan said, ‘This is Syracuse volleyball, and we have a winning season.’

To Pu, the season’s closing matches are less about being the spoiler and more about the young Orangewomen winning conference games.

‘The future of the program,’ Pu said, ‘is really looking very encouraging.”

Published on October 31, 2002 at 12:00 pm