History will have to wait — at least for one more year.

Just two points kept the Syracuse volleyball team from its best start in program history last weekend at the Radisson Invitational in Kalamazoo, Mich.

A 16-14 loss in the deciding fifth game against Western Michigan gave the Orangewomen their second loss of the season and set the tone for a disappointing weekend. Syracuse lost all three matches in University Arena and returned home Sunday with a 9-4 record headed into Big East play.

After posting an 8-1 record in their previous three tournaments, the Orangewomen couldn’t pull off another come-from-behind victory against eventual tournament champion Western Michigan (5-7). The Orangewomen won the second and fourth games, 31-29, to force a fifth. When they gave away that fifth game, the rest of the weekend went with it.

‘When we lost in five, it was mentally exhausting,’ sophomore Ashley Kimes said. ‘When we got to the tougher team, South Florida, we weren’t able to mentally get it together.’

Kimes believes a win may have led the Orangewomen to better results for the rest of the tournament.

‘I think we gave them a lot of momentum going into the rest of their games,’ Kimes said. ‘If we had won that fifth game, we would have had that similar momentum going into the rest of the tournament.’

Syracuse finished the tournament with 3-0 losses to South Florida (10-4) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (3-9). SU assistant coach Alexis Dankulic said the competition in the Radisson Invitational was among the hardest in the Orangewomen’s early-season schedule.

‘All the teams were probably a little bit better than everybody we have seen, except Maryland,’ Dankulic said.

Sophomore Morgan Jones agreed, saying the competition last weekend is similar to what Syracuse will face for the rest of the season.

‘South Florida was a good team,’ Jones said. ‘They had some really solid players.”

Western Michigan won the tournament, defeating favorite South Florida in the championship match.

The Orangewomen’s loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee was the most disappointing outcome of the young season. That result was hard for Dankulic to explain.

‘We just really don’t know what happened against Wisconsin-Milwaukee,’ Dankulic said, ‘Things just weren’t clicking well. It was just one of those games.’

‘It just wasn’t there,’ Jones said. ‘Nothing was really going for us.’

Even with the losses last weekend, the Orangewomen feel they’ve progressed going into three home matches this weekend, including ones against conference opponents St. John’s and Connecticut.

‘The competition is going to pick up, because the Big East is one of the tougher conferences,’ Jones said. ‘Our 9-4 record is a confidence booster, and should prepare us for the coming games.’

‘We feel really good,’ Dankulic said, ‘Teams go through ups and downs, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee was our low so far. It was nice to get that over as we go into the Big East.’

Published on September 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm