Shemanova's Career-High 22 Kills Lead the Orange in a Loss to Iowa

Saturday, September 15

Ames, IA

8 pm

Syracuse University

3-4

Iowa

8-3

Syracuse

Iowa

Shemanova's Career-High 22 Kills Lead the Orange in a Loss to Iowa

9/15/2018 10:11:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

AMES, Iowa – Freshman Polina Shemanova lead the Syracuse volleyball team with a career-high 22 kills in a five-set, 2-3, loss to Iowa Saturday night. The Orange fell by set scores of 25-18, 15-25, 25-19, 19-25 and 10-15.

Senior Santita Ebangwese joined Shemanova in double-digit kills for the fifth time this season with 12. Amber Witherspoon stifled a game-high 10 blocks in addition to her nine kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED
'Cuse came out strong in the first set with four unanswered points. The Hawkeyes responded with a 5-2 run to pull within one at 9-8. Syracuse was unable to create any distance until back-to-back kills from Shemanova and Ella Saada gave the Orange a 17-13 lead. Two more strings of three consecutive points gave Syracuse the comfortable first set victory.

Syracuse took the 2-0 lead to open set two but Iowa rattled off five straight points for a lead they would hold through the remainder of the set.

The Orange fired back quickly to open the third set with a 9-1 lead. Iowa narrowed the gap at 12-9 before Syracuse held them off with four back-to-back points. The Orange ended the set with three kills from Ebangwese.

In a fourth set that featured nine ties and four lead changes, neither squad was able to distance themselves as the set remained tied up to 13-13. Iowa broke the frame open with a 7-1 run for a 19-14 lead that would ultimately allow them to set victory.

Set five looked to be a battle with an early 5-5 draw between the teams. Back-to-back kills from Iowa's Cali Hoye followed by an Orange attack error would prove enough distance to allow the Hawkeyes a victory.

STEADY SHEMANOVA
Shemanova has lead the Orange in kills for every match this season including four consecutive 20+ kill performances. Entering the weekend Shemanova lead the ACC and ranked 22nd in the nation with 4.45 kills per set. Her mark is second among freshman nationally.

In all seven games of her career Shemanova has recorded at least 14 kills.

UP NEXT
Syracuse closes out its non-conference schedule tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 15 against RV Iowa State. The faceoff is set to be broadcast at 1 p.m. on ESPNU. The Orange return home for their ACC and season opener Sept. 21 against Georgia Tech at 7 p.m.