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When Syracuse faced off against the New Jersey Institute of Technology for its first game of the season on Aug. 30, the Orange won every set by at least ten points. This time, the Highlanders made life much more difficult for SU.

Syracuse and NJIT were level 28 times throughout the match Friday and the lead changed 15 times. Just over two weeks ago, the teams were tied just four times and the lead changed twice.

Though it was a tighter contest, Syracuse (8-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference ) still comfortably defeated NJIT (2-8, 0-0 America East) in a 3-0 sweep. Ava Palm and Sara Wasiakowska led the way with 11 kills each as the Orange won their eighth straight game for their best start since 2010.

SU and NJIT traded blows through the first 10 points of the first set. With the score at 5-5, Greta Schilchter produced an impressive dig, leading to a Palm kill.

Schlichter, Emma Ortiz and Skylar George combined for around half of the team’s total digs against NJIT (29-of-62). Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said he and his coaching staff put an emphasis on digs during practice, he said during media availability.

George scored seven kills at a .080 hitting percentage, after scoring a career-high 19 in the win against Siena.

From there, NJIT fell victim to multiple miscommunication and concentration errors, giving Syracuse its largest lead of the set at 14-8. But then, the Orange had a few errors of their own, allowing the Highlanders back into the set. Both squads hit under .150 in the first set, with SU at .128 and NJIT at .050.

NJIT and Syracuse continued to trade points. Taylor West grabbed a huge block that gave NJIT a 20-19 lead. Klara Zarnovicka, who had a career-high 10 kills against Siena, recorded back-to-back kills to tie the game 21-21.

A service error from George and a kill by Aries Fontaine gave NJIT a 23-21 lead, forcing a Syracuse timeout. After the timeout, NJIT scored due to an attacking error by Zarnovicka to go within one of winning the first set.

As the Highlanders went for the set point, Anastasiia Nikolnikova came up big for the Orange. She registered three straight blocks to help Syracuse win the first set 26-24.

The second set saw the lead swing from one side of the court to the other. Tied at 13, Syracuse went on an 8-4 run highlighted by kills from Wasiakowska, Nikolnikova and Palm. NJIT Head coach Pedro Trevino was forced to call a timeout with the Orange’s hitting percentage rising over 25% (.293) in the second set.

Syracuse came out a bit sluggish after the timeout, but turned it around after Wasiakoska closed out the set with a kill.

In a dragged-out third set due to multiple video reviews, Syracuse and NJIT traded blows going into the final points of the set, with 11 tied scores and six lead changes.

NJIT stayed close throughout all three sets, but lacked the quality to keep up with Syracuse’s scoring. Ilayda Dincer was the only Highlander to score double-digit kills (11), while SU had five players score over five kills. The Orange and NJIT also scored the same amount of errors (21).

Syracuse started controlling the tempo, increasing its lead to 20-15, but NJIT provided back-to-back blocks to keep the Highlanders in striking distance at 20-17. But it wasn’t enough to stop Sydney Moore, who had three kills and a block to finish off NJIT 25-20.

Published on September 13, 2024 at 6:08 pm

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu