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With the score knotted at 25-25 in the third set, Martyna Leoniak patiently waited at the back line. She lofted the ball to the middle of the court, which was controlled by Viktoriia Lokhmanhcuk before Lauren Woodford set the ball to Polina Shemanova on the outside.

Shemanova’s powerful spike was dug by Priscillia Hernandez, who set it over to Syracuse’s side. Naomi Franco then slammed the ball wide and out of bounds, giving NC State a 26-25 advantage.

Franco made up for her mistake with a kill on the next play to even things up at 26-26. But Syracuse failed to capitalize on the momentum created by Franco’s kill. Madison Williams finished the set with back-to-back kills to give the Wolfpack a 2-1 set lead heading into the fourth.

Syracuse (11-17, 7-11 Atlatnic Coast) finished off its 2022 season with a 3-1 loss to NC State (16-13, 10-8 ACC). Naomi Franco led Syracuse with 15 kills, her most since notching 23 kills against Wake Forest in late September. Polina Shemanova finished with 13 kills, totalling 426 on the season and 1869 for her career.

Lauren Woodford recorded a career-high 33 assists against the Wolfpack, adding to her team high total of 568 on the season. Alyssa Bert had the next highest assist tally with five.

The Orange struggled to keep the first set close, allowing NC State to score three points in a row on four different occasions. The Wolfpack opened the game with three straight points, but SU answered back to tie the game. Up 10-7 during the first set, NC state extended its lead to six after kills from Leoniak and Amanda Rice. Syracuse couldn’t recover, dropping the set 25-18.

NC State’s offense was strong throughout the night, recording 51 total kills in the game — seven more than Syracuse’s 44. The Wolfpack had three players hit double figure kills, Leoniak (16), Rice (12), and Williams (10).

Syracuse responded in the second set, scoring seven out of eight points after trailing 16-15 to take a 22-17 lead. The Orange controlled the rest of the set, winning 25-20 to even the match up at a set a piece.

The third set was tight throughout and came down to the wire. NC State scored four points in a row to lead 17-13, but Syracuse answered with four points to make it 17-17.

Syracuse had set point at 25-24 following a setting error by Kristen McDaniel, but two straight kills from NC State set the Wolfpack up with a set point of their own. A Franco kill kept Syracuse alive, but it ultimately fell short 28-26 in its longest set of the year.

Syracuse struggled in the final set as NC State led 9-3. The Wolfpack increased their lead to 20-15 late in the fourth set before rattling off five straight points to finish off the Orange.

Published on November 26, 2022 at 10:27 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22