Hayley Todd remembers what power Sarah Morton's blocks and kills can have on other teams. Those hits are memorable.
Todd recalls when Morton, a captain on the Syracuse volleyball team, was coming up for a hit against Cleveland State on Sept. 5. The Vikings' frontline put up a triple block to try and stop her.
"She just somehow powers the ball through," said Todd, a junior middle blocker. "And it's like, 'I want to do that!'"
Leading by example, in both games and practice, Morton has stepped up as a captain. Morton's hitting has been her strength for the past three years. She currently leads the nation with 64 blocks this season and leads the team with 107 kills. Last year, she ranked second in the Big East in hitting percentage. Her 346 kills and 160 blocks in 2008 helped bring the team to the Big East tournament.
Yet that strength alone has not gotten the team as far as it wants to be. For the last two years, the Orange (8-2) has fallen to Louisville in the first round of the Big East tournament. Now, in Morton's last year, Syracuse has its sights set on going even further.
"Knowing that we're good and having confidence we can make it into the NCAA tournament," senior outside hitter Kacie MacTavish said. "Not just to do well in the Big East, not just to beat a couple of good teams, but to actually get to the national championships."
To reach that goal, Syracuse looks toward its primary strengths - Morton's kills and blocks, that is. It's a powerful, natural combination that originates in her jump and arm swing, a motion that has gotten stronger every year, assistant coach Carol LaMarche said.
And all of her hits have a major effect on the court, both physically and mentally. It's a killer instinct every time, Morton said. A strong desire to finish - and win - the point.
"Just hit the ball as hard as I can so that the other team can't get it up, and we can win a point," Morton said.
Morton's hits in the middle stabilize the offense. LaMarche said that the more the team can get Morton the ball, the better the result for the team. But the opportunity for Morton to kill the ball comes only when the ball is passed and set up well.
"She knows that there is a lot that goes behind her getting that kill," LaMarche said. "When she gets a kill, she gets excited for the whole team and every one just feeds off of that."
While kills allow the Orange to gain momentum, Morton's blocks break the opponent's. For Morton, blocking means being able to match the other player's best hit and taking it away from her opponent.
"You could see the hitters on the other team start to hold back because they were afraid of her block," MacTavish said.
Though Morton can generate fear with her blocks and kills, the trouble for Syracuse has been winning points consistently. Already this season, the Orange has played a fifth set five times in its first 10 games.
Morton has a strategy. Her key is not only to maintain focus, but to have fun. Staying relaxed is part of Morton's personality and is what she wants the freshman class to learn from her.
"It's a business when you get to the college level," Morton said. "You're not going to win when you're not having fun. And it's not going to be fun to win if you come out here and don't enjoy yourself."
Morton's source of fun is MacTavish. She is the one that Morton looks to after every block, expecting her to turn around, jumping up and pointing at her.
"She's the first person on the team I met my freshman year, and she'll probably be the last person I'll want to see my senior year," Morton said.
It's a senior year that comes with the responsibility of leadership. This is Morton's last chance to not only enjoy herself, but advance deep into the postseason. That possibility serves as an incentive for not only her, but the rest of the team to be successful.
But outside Syracuse, the expectations are low. The Big East preseason rankings placed Syracuse to finish ninth in the conference out of 15 teams.
"If that's what they expect from us, they are going to be completely surprised, because I think that we should definitely be within the top four for sure," MacTavish said.
While success is a goal for this season, Morton's more important task as captain is to leave the freshman something to build off of. While this is her last year, she realizes it is also an adjustment period for the first year players.
Said Morton: "So we've come to a group consensus: we're going to make it the best year that we possibly can."
ddeguzma@syr.edu
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