Leonid Yelin knows the Big East conference inside and out. Yelin, who coached 15 seasons at Louisville, is prepared for the challenges ahead for Syracuse.

“Everybody knows it’s about life or death,” Yelin said. “It’s very different. Every game you play is against a rival.”

After conference opponent Marquette swept SU on Sept. 22, the Orange played its final nonconference game on Wednesday against Niagara. Syracuse (8-10, 0-3 Big East) then hit the road for two Big East games, losing to DePaul and Notre Dame. The Orange is 13th out of 14 teams in the Big East.

Yelin’s team has dipped two games below .500 after the two weekend losses and remains winless in conference play. The team’s final 12 games are against conference opponents, and Yelin said that stretch will be a tough task for his team.

The freshmen are not only new to the collegiate atmosphere, but to conference play, especially against Big East powerhouses. SU assistant coach Stephanie Cantway played four years at Louisville under Yelin and described Big East conference play as competitive.

“I think it’s hard when you know that every game is a pressure situation,” Cantway said. “You have to play every game to make sure you make it to the conference tournament, to make sure we have a chance to go to the NCAA tournament, which is our overall goal for the whole season.”

Cantway said the team has to step up in conference games, which feature tougher opponents and a more competitive environment, to make the NCAA tournament after going 8-7 in nonconference play.

Senior middle blocker Samantha Hinz is one of the most experienced Big East competitors on the team.

“Big East is really challenging not only because of the caliber of the teams, but it’s how much each game means,” Hinz said. “In preseason, if you win the right games, you can get pushed into a better seed.

“In Big East, every game matters,” she said. “I think that’s the pressure we feel sometimes.”

Sophomore libero Melina Violas thinks conference play is like another season.

Violas said the nonconference games didn’t go as well as the Orange had hoped, so it has to rely on success in conference games to put itself in position for postseason play.

Violas says conference play for the remainder of the season is a fresh start because Syracuse can win the Big East tournament and then make it to the NCAA tournament.

Despite the team’s low position in the conference standings, Cantway doesn’t think teams get excited to play the Orange, especially because they know what they will have to face.

“We definitely haven’t given up,” Cantway said. “We’re still a team that I don’t think people want to come play. I know people don’t want to play us in the Carrier Dome; they don’t want to do things that are different because they’re nervous. I think we are still on people’s radars.”

Published on October 1, 2012 at 11:32 pm

Contact Austin: arpollac@syr.edu