Syracuse women’s volleyball senior Cheryl Cobbina knew it. Her assistant coach knew it, too. Although the term gets used a lot in sports, Saturday’s Big East volleyball match against Marquette was a must-win for the Orange.

After recent disappointing home losses to South Florida and Notre Dame, SU came into Saturday’s match against the Golden Eagles in 10th place with a 3-4 record in the conference. Only eight teams qualify for the Big East Championship.

Further complicating matters was SU’s upcoming schedule, which features four of its six remaining conference matches on the road, where the Orange is 0-2 in Big East matches. One of those remaining matches is at No. 22 St. John’s.

The Orange had to beat the Golden Eagles. It did.

Strong defensive play and a strong third game propelled Syracuse this weekend as it defeated Marquette, 3-1, Saturday in the Women’s Building. Syracuse also avoided a letdown after a big match with a similarly solid defensive effort in a 3-1 non-conference victory over Long Island Sunday.

Coming into the pivotal match against Marquette (8-10, 5-3), the coaching staff emphasized the importance of the game.

‘The coaching staff knew it was a must-win,’ SU assistant coach Carol LaMarche said. ‘We’re going into the second half of the Big East play, and we came out the first half 3-4, and we’re fighting for the seventh and eight spot. We knew that Marquette was one we needed.’

The Orange (14-10, 4-4) reversed its curse of struggling after losing a second game and played a solid third game, jumping out to a quick 8-3 lead and an eventual 30-21 win. Just as it had in the first game – a 30-26 SU win – the team was full of energy and made impressive digs. At one point, senior Joscie Kaup ran all the way to the stands to save a ball that led to an eventual point.

After the win in the third game, the Orange put the finishing touch on Marquette by winning the fourth game, 31-29. Cobbina finished with 19 kills while sophomore Sarah Morton had five solo blocks.

The third game proved to be a turning point in the game.

‘Our goal was come out and get the lead,’ Morton said. ‘I think that helped us a lot by coming out and getting the lead because you don’t have to fight from being down. It gave us the energy and the heart go out through the fourth game.’

Although the third game gave the team the momentum to seal the deal, the team’s defense played a key part in the win. LaMarche said SU switched its defensive strategy after the game two loss, and it showed.

Through the first two games, the team had 24 digs and three blocks. In the third game, the defense exploded for 16 digs and had nine blocks in the final two games. The Golden Eagles had trouble scoring points on the Orange, who became active on the net.

‘We’re always are able to hit well, but when our defense is down, you can’t win,’ Cobbina said. ‘So that was in everybody’s mind. We need to pick up balls and go after balls and play some good defense.’

On Sunday against Long Island (11-11), the defense shined again and moved the Orange toward victory. The team finished with 15 blocks, led by Morton’s career-high seven solo blocks. Cobbina also added three blocks, and the team has 66 collective digs.

‘I felt like our defense has picked up so much from the beginning of the year,’ Morton said. ‘We’re getting balls that no one thinks we can get, and it just shows how much we’ve been working on it in practice and how much Joscie and all of our defensive players give it their all in getting the ball up.’

The defensive effort in both games and the huge third game against Marquette propelled the Orange to a home sweep that could turn the fortunes of the season. With six remaining games in the Big East and only a half game out of eight place, the team is feeling confident heading into the home stretch of the season after winning a must-win.

‘Coming out and getting a big win against a good team is really something good to start off this second run we have to go on,’ Morton said. ‘Every game is important with the Big East. Every team is going to be a battle when we play and just being able to get this win underneath our belt gives us the confidence to go in and play against the better teams and the other teams we’re going to have to fight against.’

Published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 pm