After blowing leads in the first two games, Syracuse had nothing left.

“It just doesn’t really matter what I’m telling them, trying to encourage them in the third game,” SU head coach Leonid Yelin said.

Despite outplaying Louisville in the first two sets and reaching set point in the second, the Orange (7-12, 0-7 Atlantic Coast) fell to Louisville (12-7, 4-3) in three sets at the Women’s Building on Friday night. SU equaled Louisville in attacking opportunities, but had a hitting percentage of .081 and 20 attack errors. Additionally, the Orange was out-blocked for the second time all season and struggled to dig the ball.

The first set was back and forth with SU seeming to be more under control early. After the Orange allowed the Cardinals to fight back from a four-point deficit to take an 18-16 lead, Yelin called timeout. But it proved to be of no avail as Louisville scored seven of the next eight points to win the set.

Yelin said his team “absolutely” outplayed Louisville in the first two sets, but lost nonetheless. He seemed exasperated when asked how the team could better hold leads.

“We (are) just tying to figure (it) out as coaches,” Yelin said. “Losing so many matches, and some of them we felt like we was right there to win those matches, mentally its not easy to dig out of that hole.”

The Orange controlled the second set much like it did the first, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. As the Cardinals fought to get back in the game, a powerful block from outside hitter Silvi Uattara sent the ball past the 10-foot line and emphatically into the ground, punctuating the Orange’s strong play early in the set.

The game went back and forth until a Uattara kill put the Orange within a point of tying the match at 1. But two Uattara attack errors were followed by two Louisville kills to give the Cardinals set point.

The Orange serve received to setter Gosia Wlaszczuk who set middle blocker Monika Salkute. Salkute jumped, but whiffed as the ball fell to the court, giving Louisville a 26-24 set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

“It was a game in a game, two parts,” Yelin said. “Unfortunately, 24-21, they have three opportunities to finish (but couldn’t).”

Yelin was pleased with his team’s play in the first two games but said they understandably quit going into the third.

“Of course, you never want players to quit. But at the same time,” he said, “I’ve been in this situation and it’s really hard. It takes time.”

Louisville dominated the final stanza, winning the first five points against a flailing Orange team. Every time the Orange scored, the players celebrated more than usual, trying to find the motivation.

SU mounted a small comeback facing match point before losing the set, 25-18, and the match, 3-0.

“I don’t feel frustrated,” Yelin said after the game as he wrestled with how he would handle the team going forward with so many injuries.

Every time the team seems to make an improvement, he said, someone else goes down.

Said Yelin: “As it is now, I just feel bad for my players. That’s the feeling I have, because the couple players who now have to do much, much more.”

Published on October 17, 2014 at 11:40 pm