Boston College volleyball claimed the first point of its opening set against Syracuse on Sunday afternoon during the Eagles’ senior day game.
That set the tone for the afternoon, and though it took the Eagles (14–16, 7–11 Atlantic Coast) four sets to do it, they ultimately came away with a win over the Orange (14–16, 2–16).
Syracuse quickly countered due to BC sending two hits wide. Jenna Pollock rallied with a strong hit to put the Orange up 2–1. But BC showcased scrappy defense, recovering tough balls while Syracuse’s blocks landed out of bounds.
Syracuse benefited from BC errors, though, getting nine of its first 14 points were due to BC errors. The Orange found a burst of momentum late in the set, and went on a five-point run that led to it winning the first set 26–24.
“You know, I thought we gave up two or three runs throughout the match that were just too long, and we just gave up too many points in a row,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said.
Syracuse carried its momentum into the start of the second set to take a 9–2 lead initially as the Eagle’s back line was unable to save the kills and sets by Syracuse.
The Eagles recovered with a seven-point run to win the second set 25–18, evening the game.
BC capitalized on kills by Cornelia Roach, Audrey Ross, and Halle Schroder, who all posted double-digits in kills.
“I thought we were pretty balanced offensively,” Kennedy said. “We didn’t really rely too much on one person. We had five people with at least seven kills, which was pretty good.”
Syracuse started the third set the same way it started the second one, going up 8–3 early. Once again, the Orange was a beneficiary of BC errors. But the Eagles were once again able to fight their way back to a tie, and then to an eventual win in the third set.
Julia Haggerty was a dynamic player defensively for the Eagles during that stretch and finished the game with three blocks.
The fourth set started with BC ahead going up 8–1. With two sets under its belt, the game momentum had slowed for the Orange. Although getting close at the end, Syracuse was never able to catch the Eagles and lost the set 25–22 on an error.
“We’ve got a big one on Wednesday,” Kennedy said, looking ahead to Wednesday’s game against Clemson. “They were able to beat us down in Clemson a few weeks ago. So we definitely want to be able to try and get those guys back, and then we head back on the road, another match that we lost in five earlier in the year to Virginia. So two opportunities to show a little bit of growth.”
