 "Photo: Kelsey Boyer")
In what has become a rivalry with a school a little more than two hours away, the mood became tense early on in the Albany-Syracuse volleyball game. Great Danes head coach Kelly Sheffield was warned early on for arguing a call and ended up giving Syracuse an extra point.
That edgy mood continued for the remainder of the afternoon as Syracuse looked to beat its instate rival for the first time in three years. Syracuse accomplished just that with a 3-0 (30-25, 30-23, 28-21) sweep over Albany Monday at Manley Field House in front of 107 fans.
"Historically, Albany has been good, and (they're) getting better," assistant coach Carol LaMarche said. "They beat us the last two years [sic] so we knew it was going to be a fight, and it was going to be a matter of who had a good day and who could get the momentum on their side."
SU certainly did not start off having a good day, struggling on the offensive side of the ball. They committed errors at the net and were unable to finish plays. The offense finished with a lowly .189 kill percentage in the first game. It was the Orange defense that was a constant throughout the match and helped to keep the game close until the offense started firing away.
"It's just starting off and playing," said senior team captain, Joscie Kaup. "Once you start talking, and the communication picks up, you start reading their defense. You figure out where their holes are. Sometimes it takes until point 15."
Until that point, though, Kaup and company made some impressive plays on defense to give Syracuse opportunities. After coming in off the bench in game one, junior Marissa Kanemura provided the Orange with three diving plays on defense. Later on in the game, senior Cheryl Cobbina added her own diving plays on defense to help SU secure a lead.
As the games progressed, the balls started to fall for the Orange, and the plays came together more.
"What goes around comes around," Kaup said. "So you keep digging until we finally get the point. It's the best feeling in the world when you get a great dig, and someone on our team puts the ball away."
A perfect example of just that came during the third game. After a ball was spiked by Albany, Kaup lunged with one arm to save the ball, setting it up in the air perfectly. As it hung in the air, Kacie MacTavish rose up to meet the ball halfway and placed it past diving defensemen to win the point for SU.
Capitalizing on those types of plays are what the coaches have tried to stress lately, LaMarche said. They are trying to teach players to be more aggressive. The broken plays, such as the one where Kaup dove and set up MacTavish, provide opportunities LaMarche would like to see her players take more advantage of against opponents.
"Digs are not easy," LaMarche said. "So when Joscie, Cheryl or Kacie are back there and they dig up a good ball, it just pumps up the rest of the team."
Kaup, who became Syracuse's all-time leader in digs against Akron on Saturday, ended the match with a game-high 17 digs for the Orange. Cobbina and MacTavish had 13 and 14 digs, respectively.
On defense, the Orange was strong at receiving serves and blocking more balls. Sarah Morton led Syracuse with four blocks.
LaMarche attributed this to the team staying deep on the court against Albany, and having more concentration this game than they had during the weekend in Akron, Ohio.
To become successful on the offensive side, the Orange had to change its plan of attack against Albany. Syracuse started to float more balls and hit softer shots, putting less emphasis on the booming hits down the middle of the court.
SU looked for more ways to hit it around and over players as opposed to hitting the ball right at them and trying to jam it down their throats. Eventually, it worked.
"Albany has some good blockers out there," LaMarche said. "Their middles are really good blocking up the middle, so we had to adjust to more outside sets."
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