Barely an hour after the first serve of last night’s match, the Syracuse volleyball team was ready to cut the cake.

Syracuse made short work of Siena in its first match of the season in the Women’s Building, coasting to a 3-0 victory in 1 hour, 11 minutes.

But this was much more than just another win for the Orangewomen (14-8, 2-4 Big East).

The victory marked head coach Jing Pu’s 300th NCAA win. As the Orangewomen rushed the court to congratulate their coach and dig into his celebratory chocolate cake, it was clear that their minds quickly drifted from their performance against the weak Siena squad.

Syracuse swept the match easily, rarely giving up the lead and taking the final game by nine points. Still, SU showed signs of weakness.

Just two points from a win in the second game, sophomore Ashley Kimes’ serve didn’t just fall short of the net – it hit middle blocker Kelly Duan in the back of the head. Such mistakes plagued the Orangewomen, who totaled 13 service errors, eight more than Siena.

‘We have tendencies to play a little bit down when we play weaker teams,’ junior Michaela Skelly said. ‘But that’s just a mental thing with us.’

Fortunately for Syracuse, strong blocking from two freshmen offset the baseline struggles.

Sophomore Rachel Crooks sat out because of a knee injury, and Pu played his younger players at new positions. Freshman Jessica Logan took over at weakside hitter, pushing Duan to middle blocker for the first time. Duan combined with setter Aila Dommestrup for four blocks on the front line.

Dommestrup is likely to become SU’s primary setter because she doubles as a blocker, Pu said. At 6-feet, she’s three inches taller than fellow setters Kathryn Dercher and Skelly.

Dommestrup has adapted well to the setter position and has seen significantly more playing time since Skelly suffered a minor hand injury last weekend.

‘(Skelly and I) have played defense a lot more than Aila has,’ Dercher said. ‘So if Aila’s setting, then we get to play defense, which is fine with us.’

Syracuse faces two more regional teams, Canisius and Niagara, this weekend. Pu expects to mix up the rotation again in these games.

These less-challenging games, he said, are an opportunity to prepare for Big East competition. And if Syracuse can breeze through the next two matches as it did against Siena, there will be plenty of time to experiment.

‘It’s a good week for us,’ Skelly said. ‘We have less-competitive teams to play, and we can figure out what lineup we want to use for our Big East matches.’

But as Pu alters the lineup, he must also address the team’s offensive weaknesses. The Orangewomen have a chance the following weekend to repair their lagging conference record, but Big East teams are likely to exploit SU’s service errors more than Siena did.

‘When our concentration goes down, things don’t look as pretty as they usually do,’ Skelly said. ‘You just hope you catch it before it gets you in the back of the head.’

Published on October 16, 2002 at 12:00 pm