Hayley Todd has been a part of some very good teams during her career at Syracuse. But after Tuesday’s win against Niagara, this year’s Syracuse squad appears to be that special kind of team. The type of team that can make adjustments on the fly. The type of team that can immediately regroup at the most crucial times.

The Orange hasn’t remained undefeated thus far by accident.

‘We knew it was just little things that we could clean up on our own,’ the senior outside hitter said. ‘Volleyball’s all about mistakes and whoever makes less mistakes. It was really just about us getting the dust off a little bit.’

If that’s all it took, the Orange couldn’t have been that dusty.

Off to its best start in program history, Syracuse (13-0) beat Niagara (5-7) 3-0, taking the sets 25-20, 25-19 and 25-20. SU hasn’t lost a set since Sept. 3 against North Texas at the Samford Tournament. Since that point, the Orange has won 27 consecutive sets.

Despite the score getting close at several times throughout the match, the Orange maintained its composure to keep the Purple Eagles from ever having a chance to win a set.

But starting off the first set on Tuesday, it looked as if that streak might be broken. Syracuse lost the first two points of the first set with unforced errors, hitting two shots out of bounds.

‘We had a lot of unforced errors,’ Orange assistant coach Carol LaMarche said.

Once the Orange got warmed up, there wasn’t any looking back.

With the score at 8-7, middle blocker Lindsay McCabe placed a perfect shot into the corner of the Purple Eagles’ court to tie the score at eight.

Todd followed that up with a kill to make give SU the 9-8 lead. Todd finished up with a team-leading 12 kills.

Niagara retook the lead later in the first set to make it 18-17. But a full body dive for a dig by defensive specialist Sarah Hayes set up a kill for sophomore Laura Homann that tied the score at 18.

That play turned the momentum in favor of the Orange, and just like that, SU figured everything out. Just as an undefeated team does.

‘They’re really self-motivated to do better and push themselves,’ LaMarche said. ‘They knew that they could play better than how they started.’

SU started off the second set on an 8-1 run, highlighted by two digs by Noemie Lefebvre that set up kills by Todd.

Just like they did in the first set, the Purple Eagles started to make a comeback and got the score to 19-18. But that would be as close as they’d come.

Once again, the Orange showed it doesn’t get rattled with a tight score. If anything, players step up to make sure the situation doesn’t get any worse.

A kill by Lefebvre gave the Orange a four-point cushion at 22-18, propelling SU to win the set.

The Purple Eagles made it close again late in the third set, getting the score to 21-19. But Todd made a kill, and Lefebvre followed that up with one of her own to make the score 22-19.

That was enough for Syracuse to pull away for the victory and remain unbeaten.

Throughout the entire match, the Purple Eagles never really beat the Orange defense. Instead, it was the Orange’s own inconsistency that gave Niagara some points.

‘Against those kinds of teams, our worst enemy is ourselves,’ Lefebvre said. ‘Tonight, we had a little trouble with our consistency. Other than that, we were still able to stay focused and not panic that we were making a little more errors.’

Those errors could be far more costly against tougher opponents. That’s something SU hasn’t forgotten.

And having not begun its conference schedule, the Orange isn’t about to let its undefeated status take control. Because even with an undefeated record, Syracuse still knows its toughest opponents lie ahead.

‘We’re 13-0, and that’s great,’ Lefebvre said. ‘But we haven’t played a Big East team yet, so we shouldn’t sit on it.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on September 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman