On Wednesday, Boston College volleyball was bested by the Syracuse Orange in the first game of what would be a two-game series, coming up just short after a hard-fought battle that saw BC’s Audrey Ross excel with a team-high 19 kills.
Poised for redemption, the Eagles (15–7, 4–6 Atlantic Coast) waltzed into Syracuse’s (13–7, 5–5) home arena on Friday evening and took care of business, emerging with a dominant 3–0 win.
The match began shakily for BC. Syracuse won the first two points off the back of two dominant kills by Skylar George, and for a moment it seemed as though the Eagles still hadn’t gotten the Orange’s number.
That was until the sixth point of the game, when BC, down 4–1, converted its first block of the game. Both Ross and freshman middle blocker Bella Ehrlich leaped into the air and met a spike from Soana Lea’ea at the net, deflecting the ball right back down onto the Orange’s hardwood.
That block was the first in what would become an astonishing defensive set for the Eagles. Despite being out-killed by the Orange 16–13, they amassed a staggering nine blocks compared to the Orange’s one. Libero Brooklyn Yelland shined, making several acrobatic saves off of powerful spikes.
BC rode this defensive high all the way to the end of the set, winning it by a score of 25–20.
The second set saw BC continue to dominate, this time on the offensive end. Both Sequoia Layne and Danica Rach came into their own, recording four and three kills respectively en route to the Eagles jumping out to a 20–14 lead. Layne finished the match with 11 points, beating her career-high by 0.5.
However, two consecutive BC attack errors along with a kill from Syracuse’s Gabby McLaughlin, who ranks third in the ACC in kills, helped initiate a late-set surge for the Orange. BC’s play turned sloppy, and the surge climaxed when an unintended baseline collision between Ross and Anna Herrington allowed Syracuse to pull within one point of the lead at 23–22.
But a clutch kill by Rach got the Eagles to 24, shifting the momentum back in favor of the visitors. Layne then finished off the set with a kill of her own, and the Eagles went up 2–0.
During the third set, it looked as if the failed comeback at the end of the second had taken most of the energy out of the Orange. Several kills by Ross allowed the Eagles to take a quick 14–7 lead, and they never looked back.
BC closed out the set 25–16, successfully earning its redemption and spoiling Syracuse’s best start in onference play since 2018.
