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Last month, Syracuse was reverse-swept by California. On Wednesday, the Orange welcomed the Golden Bears to the Women’s Building for their final home match of the season, looking to redeem themselves.

But SU (14-17, 2-17 Atlantic Coast Conference) fell in straight sets to Cal (14-17, 6-13 ACC), the Orange’s 11th time getting swept in conference play this season.

Syracuse jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the first set behind redshirt freshman Skylar George’s kill and ace. The Golden Bears then took advantage of three attacking errors by the Orange to take a 6-4 lead. Cal controlled most of the set, leading by as much as seven after a Syracuse error to make it 16-9.

Though SU responded well, embarking on a 12-2 run fueled by aces, kills and errors as the Orange led 21-18. Cal then retaliated with moves of its own and an ace from Gianna Bartalo, pushing the Golden Bears to match point at 24-23. A kill from George tied the game. Then, after Cal got the point back, another George kill tied the game at 25-25. An error by Sydney Moore and a kill by Cal, however, handed the Golden Bears the first set — winning 27-25.

To start the second set, Syracuse shuffled the deck, slotting in Emma Ortiz and Mira Ledermueller after the two didn’t start in the previous set.

The Golden Bears got off to a fast start, going up 4-0. Cal controlled most of the set with a hitting percentage of .278. Syracuse, on the other hand, couldn’t find any rhythm offensively and hit at a -0.12 clip. The Orange only notched five kills in the set as well. Cal led by as much as 12 and cruised to a second-set win 25-15 after a kill from Maggie Li.

By the third set, the Orange lost all of their juice, only mustering five kills for the second consecutive set and recording another hitting percentage in the negatives.

After a 4-4 start, Cal went on an 8-1 run, going up 12-5 and controlling the set. Sara Wasiakowska recorded a kill to push the score to 16-8, but that was the last point the Orange scored. From that point on, Cal dominated. Six kills, an ace and two SU errors closed out the match as Cal obliterated the Orange 25-8.

Syracuse played one of its worst matches of the year. After the first set finished, the Orange couldn’t keep up with the Golden Bears at all, even after taking two sets from them in October.

The best player for SU was George. The Utah transfer recorded 10 digs and eight kills, two shy of a double-double.

In addition, sophomore Fiona Rigby played in the third set, which was only her second appearance of the season. Rigby transferred from George Mason after playing one match with the Patriots. Freshman Pola Bujnarowska also played for the fourth time in the last five games. The middle blocker from Poland has played in seven games and nine sets, playing just one this afternoon.

Published on November 27, 2024 at 4:20 pm

Contact Aidan: aidan.tseng@gmail.com