Volleyball Rolls To Fourth Straight Win

Sunday, October 27

Syracuse, N.Y.

1 p.m.

Syracuse University

10-12, 5-5ACC

Clemson

11-10, 5-5ACC

Clemson

Syracuse

Redshirt freshman Valeriya Shaipova was one of three Orange women to record double-doubles against Clemson. It was the first of Shaipova's career.

10/27/2013 5:30:00 PM | Volleyball

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse volleyball team overcame a slow start in the first set to take down Atlantic Coast Conference foe Clemson, 3-1, to extend its win streak to four straight matches on Sunday, Oct. 27 in the Women's Building.

The Orange (10-12, 5-5 ACC) has now won four matches in a row for the first time since four consecutive victories last year. It is also the first four-match win streak in conference play dating back to the 2009 season when SU won six straight BIG EAST Conference games.

Syracuse rallied to take the first set and pulled away for a 2-0 lead before Clemson (11-10, 5-5 ACC) earned a third set win to extend the match. Syracuse held off a late push by the Tigers to claim the Orange's fifth win in the last six matches (26-24, 25-21, 17-25, 25-21).

"It feels great. Winning is always great," said head coach Leonid Yelin. "Our players have picked up the system. With the first win (in conference), they started building confidence and understood what I wanted from them."

Three Orange women posted double-doubles in the triumph. Sophomore Silvi Uattara (season-high 18 kills and 11 digs) and junior Nicolette Serratore (14 kills and 10 digs) each picked up their fifth double-doubles of the season. It was Uattara's fourth in the last five contests. Redshirt freshman Valeriya Shaipova notched the first double-double of her career with 16 kills on a .351 hitting percentage and a team-best 14 digs.

Freshman Erica Handley dished out 55 assists, one off her career high and sixth-most in program history in a four set match. Handley also finished with eight digs, four kills and three aces. Junior Melina Violas reached double-digit digs (13) for the seventh straight match.

Redshirt junior Lindsay McCabe's four blocks led all players and moved her into a tie for seventh in program history with 392 career blocks.

Leading by a score of 7-6, the Tigers went on a 10-3 run for a 17-10 advantage. Syracuse responded with a 9-2 run of their own to knot the score at 19-19. A costly rotation violation followed by an ace from junior Bailey Humes put SU up 22-20. Clemson held off set point twice to tie it up at 24-24, but kills from Handley and Shaipova closed out the set for the Orange.

The Tigers had one more kill in the opener (18-17), however SU was more efficient with seven less attempts, owning a .429-.381 hitting advantage.

Both teams were locked in a tightly contested second set with neither leading by more than two until a four-point spurt by Syracuse gave the Orange a 13-8 edge. The visitors could only get within two the rest of the way as SU connected on 21 kills against only five errors for a .381 hitting clip in the frame. Uattara recorded nine of her team-high 18 kills in the set.

The third set was controlled by Clemson, which led nearly the entire time. Trailing 2-1, the Tigers used a 7-2 run followed by five more unanswered points to construct a 14-7 advantage. After the Orange pulled within 19-15, Clemson outscored SU6-2 the rest of the way to extend the match.

With the score tied 5-5 in the fourth set, Syracuse tallied six of the next seven points for an 11-6 lead. Following three unanswered from Clemson, the Orange went on another run, this time 9-3 to go up 20-12. SU maintained that same margin with a 24-16 lead only to see the Tigers stave off match point five times to close the gap to 24-21. Feeling the pressure, Serratore smacked a kill to end the match and give Syracuse the win.

Mo Simmons had a career-high 28 kills and matched her personal-best of 72 attempts for a solid .319 hitting percentage. Setter Hannah Brenner was all over the court with 43 assists, a career-high 19 digs, seven kills, three aces and three blocks.

Syracuse will face a tough test in its next match at nationally ranked No. 23 Duke on Friday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. The Orange will wrap up the weekend with a match at Wake Forest on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m.