Antonio Hits Career Mark in Orange Loss to Irish

Sunday, September 24

South Bend, Ind.

12 p.m.

Syracuse University

2-10,0-2ACC

Notre Dame

8-2,2-0ACC

Syracuse

Notre Dame

Antonio Hits Career Mark in Orange Loss to Irish

9/24/2023 2:07:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Syracuse's Cherlin Antonio had a career-high 19 kills in a 3-0 loss to Notre Dame (8-2, 2-0 ACC) on Sunday afternoon. The Irish needed extra points to win the first set 25-24 but made quick work of SU in the second frame, 25-9. Syracuse led 15-13 but Notre Dame used a deep run to take the lead and ultimately win the set 25-18 to earn the sweep.

"I think today's performance was much better than Friday," Syracuse head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said after the match. "Our intensity and focus was more consistent. Our hitters did a much better job of finding solutions in situations where we faced bigger blockers. I think our overall performance as a team was much more consistent than it was on Friday."

When asked where he saw improvement from Friday's ACC opener to Sunday's road tilt in South Bend, Ganesharatnam added, "We set some goals for ourselves. We wanted to bring the serve and pass game. We were stable on our serve receive and we were aggressive on our serves.

The adjustment from Friday to today was good," Ganesharatnam added. "Although we didn't win, I think we improved in areas that makes me very optimistic moving forward."

The Orange (2-10, 0-2 ACC) were paced by Antonio's 19 kills and .405 hitting percentage in the loss while Notre Dame's Sydney Palazzolo led the team with 13 kills and Phyona Schrader had an impressive .643 clip with 10 kills.

Notre Dame used a 4-0 scoring run to have a 14-11 advantage in set one. Syracuse responded with four straight points to lead 15-14. With the Irish ahead, Lauren McCabe's kill cut the lead to one, 22-21. A service ace by the Orange held off set point for ND but the Irish scored on the next rally to earn the win and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Nine of Antonio's 19 kills were in the first set. The Orange had their best hitting percentage, .394, in the opening frame, and freshman setter Mira Ledermueller assisted on 13 of Syracuse's 16 kills.

Notre Dame took an early command in the second frame but Veronica Sierzant's attack cut the Irish lead to three, 7-4. The home team extended its lead to 11, 20-9 when Ganesharatnam called timeout to slow the run. However, the Irish continued its run and finished the set on a 10-0 run to win 25-9.

In the third set, Notre Dame led early, 4-1. The Orange went ahead by two, 15-13, and ND responded with three straight points to take a 16-15 lead. SU called timeout but the Irish scored the following six points to make it a 9-0 run. 'Cuse could not recover from the deficit and lost the final set, 25-18.

Of Note:

Cherlin Antonio had a career-high 19 kills, surpassing her 18-kill performance against Cornell on Sept. 6
The Orange hit .394 in the opening frame
Mira Ledermueller had 26 assists
The Orange combined for five service aces

Up Next:
Syracuse continues its Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) road swing to begin conference play next weekend when the Orange travel to Virginia (Sept. 29) and Pitt (Oct. 1).