Rutgers challenged the Syracuse volleyball team on each point Sunday, but deep into the final game, the Orangewomen refused back down.

Syracuse outplayed Rutgers in the final moments of its second five-game match of the weekend and returned home with three wins, renewed confidence and an evened conference record.

Freshman Kristen Conway put the finishing touch on a successful road trip when she received Big East Rookie of the Week honors Monday.

‘That was a big surprise,’ Conway said. ‘A good surprise, though.’

The same can be said of Syracuse’s performance in its weekend matches. Conway recorded a career-high 17 kills in SU’s 3-1 win at Albany on Friday, only to outdo herself the next day with 25 in a 3-2 win at Seton Hall.

And the Orangewomen (13-6, 2-2 Big East) clearly benefited from her tenacity. Syracuse dropped the first game of its match at Albany but rallied to win the next three. Albany posted a.164 attack percentage to SU’s .221, and three Orangewomen broke double-digits in kills.

‘We worked a lot on defense last week,’ freshman Aila Dommestrup said, ‘and we really focused on getting our hitting percentages up and making our outside stronger.’

Syracuse fell behind Seton Hall, 2-1, but won the last two games of the five-game match by four and three points, respectively, to defeat the Pirates. Conway shined on offense, and Dommestrup set a career high with 46 assists.

‘We were all really, really energetic,’ Dommestrup said. ‘We didn’t do so well last weekend, so we were determined to get some wins out of this weekend.’

With two wins already, the Orangewomen headed to Rutgers for the weekend’s toughest match. Rutgers split the first four games with Syracuse, forcing a deciding fifth.

‘When you get into the longer matches, you just want to win it more,’ Conway said. ‘It’s kind of pointless to go five games and end up losing.’

And Syracuse won, 17-15, in the fifth game thanks to a surge of intensity during the final points.

‘In the last couple plays of our last match,’ Conway said, ‘we just had some phenomenal plays – like great blocks at very crucial times. And that just totally brings our team together. We feed and thrive off of that drive.’

‘On the final block,’ freshman Jessica Logan said, ‘it was just like, ‘Wow, we beat Rutgers,’ and it was so amazing.’

With two more Big East matchups this weekend, at Villanova and Georgetown, the Orangewomen need to maintain the confidence and intensity.

Freshman Kathryn Dercher said enthusiasm played a big role in SU’s weekend success. Conway’s kills helped too.

‘My game has come a decent way since preseason,’ Conway said. ‘It was good to hit a milestone like that.’

Published on October 8, 2002 at 12:00 pm