Volleyball's Road Swing Comes to an End Sunday at Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. – A long road swing comes to an end on Sunday as the Syracuse volleyball team (3-5) continues Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play in South Carolina for a matchup against Clemson. The Orange take on the Tigers at 1 p.m. in Jervey Gymnasium, and are looking to rebound after opening conference play with a loss at Georgia Tech Friday night. Syracuse defeated Clemson last season in four sets at home and lead the all-time series, 8-3, over the Tigers.

Breaking Down the Tigers
Clemson fell to Boston College on Thursday night, 3-1, at home. The Tigers own a 7-6 record approaching the middle portion of the season. Clemson is led by redshirt junior Kaylin Korte, who has posted 130 kills and 13 service aces. The Tigers rank second in the conference, behind the Orange, in aces per set with 1.79 and junior Jori Radtke and senior Emily Curtis have each aced 15 times this season. Clemson also sits at third in the ACC in kills per set (13.38).

The Tigers have had their hands full with their schedule as well, losing matches to No. 7 Minnesota and No. 9 Wisconsin.

Orange on Top
Sophomore captain Polina Shemanova continues to lead the team in kills (124), points (136.5), digs (63) and ranks first in the ACC for kills/set (4.46). She contributed a team-high 17 kills in Friday's match at Georgia Tech. Freshman Marina Markova ranks second in the nation and leads the ACC in aces per set with an average of 0.83 and 20 total on the season. Sophomore setter Elena Karakasi carries the team in assists with 212 in eight matches.
Syracuse leads the ACC with 1.92 aces per set. The Orange rank 13^th in the nation out of 332 qualifying teams.

Milestones On The Horizon
Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin's career record now sits at 591-261 in his 28^th season as an intercollegiate coach and eighth as head coach of the Orange. He spent 15 seasons as head coach of Louisville before coming to Syracuse.

The Orange are eight wins shy of 900 in program history. Entering the match, Syracuse owns a record of 892-629-10 all-time.

Top-Ranked Opponents
Syracuse's first eight opponents have a combined record of 55-30. Two of Syracuse's five losses have come at the hands of ranked teams (#17 Baylor and #11 Marquette). The Orange also face #4 Pittsburgh, #23 Florida State and Louisville (twice) this season.

Up Next
Syracuse finally heads home to face Wake Forest on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. and Duke on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. in the SU Women's Building for its home opening weekend. This is the first match in a four-match home stretch for the Orange. Admission and parking to both matches are free.

For continued coverage of Syracuse volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@CuseVB), Instagram (@cusevb) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Volleyball).

Volleyball's Road Swing Comes to an End Sunday at Clemson

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elena Karakasi

Marina Markova

Polina Shemanova

Syracuse University Athletics