Yelin begins 2nd season with grueling test at Penn State Invitational
Sam Maller | Asst. Photo Editor
Leonid Yelin took over as head coach at Syracuse last season after a wildly successful career at Louisville. He'll face his former team in the Penn State Invitational on Friday.
A year ago, Leonid Yelin arrived at Syracuse hoping to turn the program around. Yelin spent 15 seasons coaching Louisville before joining the Orange, bringing the Cardinals to the NCAA tournament in all but one season.
On Friday, he will open his second season at SU with a matchup against his former team at the Penn State Invitational at 4:30 p.m. in University Park, Pa.
The Cardinals, the No. 19 team in the nation, provide the first of two tough tests for SU this weekend. Syracuse will face No. 2 Penn State at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Yelin realizes this may not be the ideal way to coach the players, but he doesn’t have any other choice due to such a tough schedule.
“I probably wouldn’t do this,” Yelin said. “It’s like teaching (swimming) out on the lake, you’re just sort of throwing them in there.”
And the schedule won’t get any easier. Syracuse will play six other teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.
With the start of Yelin’s second season at Syracuse on the horizon, there is plenty of room for improvement after a 12-18 season. One major component is improving on the road, where the Orange went just 3-9.
One issue could be the lack of experience on the team. With such a young team, Yelin said that this season “will have its ups and its downs.”
Another major point of improvement should be conference play. Friday will also mark the beginning of the Orange’s tenure in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but regardless of which conference Syracuse is in, the Orange will need to improve its 4-11 conference record.
One key to improvement will be setter Erica Handley. The freshman from Lakeville, Minn., is being asked to be the primary setter for the squad. She graduated high school early so she has been on campus since January this year, giving her plenty of time to practice and bond with the team.
“There are going to be some nerves,” Handley said. “I just know if I go out there and play as hard as I can and just do what I’ve been working on, everything should come together.”
Published on August 28, 2013 at 10:47 pm
Contact Eric: esriter@syr.edu
