Syracuse’s (6-5) three-game winning streak was snapped on Friday night in a five-set loss to Bryant (7-6) at the Hofstra Tournament in Hempstead, New York. After winning the first two sets, the Orange dropped the final three and lost, 25-17, 25-19, 15-25, 20-25, 10-15.

Syracuse was paced by superlative performances on both sides of the ball. Kendra Lukacs led the team with 14 kills and 15 digs, while Santita Ebangwese finished with 13 kills and led the team with a season-high 10 blocks. Setters Annie Bozzo and Jalissa Trotter orchestrated the Orange offense, tallying 29 and 16 assists, respectively.

Syracuse began the match hot, rattling off five straight points thanks to errors by the Bulldogs. Then, the Bulldogs came all the way back to tie the Orange at eight, but that would be that’s as close as the rest of the set would get.

Leading 13-10, the Orange scored seven points in a row to go up 10. It proved too much for Bryant, and SU closed out the set. Eleven attack errors and seven kills made the Bulldogs hit at a minus-.105 percentage in the first set. The Orange, on the other hand, sat at .345 through one set. Ebangwese had four blocks in addition to four kills, while Bozzo chipped in 11 assists and four digs.

In the second set, Bryant started with a 5-0 run in the second set, until Syracuse made a run down 8-3 and scored four points in a row. Bryant called a timeout to stop the momentum, but one Kendra Lukacs ace later, the set was tied. Toward the end, Bryant ran out of gas. Four straight points by Syracuse put it up 19-16 giving it the lead for good.

Another good start by the Bulldogs gave them an early lead in the third set, and this time, the team didn’t fail to capitalize on its early advantage. Despite Syracuse’s efforts to regain the lead, the Orange only came as close as one point in the third set. Bryant never trailed. The biggest set blowout of the day gave the Bulldogs not only their first set victory, but the momentum as well.

The fourth set, the only other set when it started close, unraveled slowly. The fourth set was close until then end when Bryant pulled away to win, 25-20, and tying the match and sending it into a winner-take-all set.

By the fifth set, all the momentum in the match was with the Bulldogs. Bryant used three Syracuse errors to help take a 9-4 lead, and three Bryant kills later the lead ballooned to 12-5. The Orange had one last spurt left in it, scoring four straight points to make it 12-9, but a timeout by the Bulldogs quickly squashed the comeback. Bryant recovered and ended the match with its 13th ace of the day.

Syracuse plays again on Saturday, in its second game of the Hofstra Tournament. The Orange will play Binghamton at the Mack Physical Education Center at 1:00 p.m.

Published on September 15, 2017 at 10:25 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34