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Syracuse needed an answer with Boston College leading 14-11. One point would succumb the Orange to their third straight defeat. As soon as BC’s Aubrey Moore served the ball, Zharia Harris-Waddy yelled out for it. Veronica Sierzant set up Harris-Waddy to slam it down and give the Orange a fighting chance.

On the ensuing possession, Julia Haggerty’s attempt was touched by Sydney Moore and found its way to Sierzant. Knowing the ball would make its way to her, Skylar George backpedaled to gain more momentum to sprint forward as the ball transferred over to Ava Palm. Palm touched it up to George, who smacked the ball across the net, leading to another Syracuse point.

Following a BC timeout, Aubrey set it up for Audrey Ross, who had a chance to end the match for Boston College. Yet George again kept the Orange alive as she rose high to stuff Ross. The Eagles front row couldn’t handle the ball, taking the final set to sudden death.

“I could really see the fight in everyone,” SU’s Nikki Shimao said. “I think both sides were doing a really good job fighting and it really came down to pretty thin margins.”

While Syracuse (14-15, 2-15 Atlantic Coast Conference) ultimately fell in five sets to Boston College (13-16, 6-11 ACC), George shined throughout the match. The redshirt freshman notched 18 kills, one off from her career-high 19 against Siena on Sept. 12. George, a Utah transfer, joined the Orange for her first year of college volleyball after not playing a match with the Utes after unexpectedly redshirting.

Though she shined against the Eagles, George didn’t see the floor as SU dropped the first set 25-20.

“She was struggling a little bit in the last two matches,” SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said of George. “We felt like maybe taking a little break and having her come off the bench would be a better solution for her and it happened to be that it worked out pretty well for her today. ”

In her last two games against Clemson and No. 15 Georgia Tech, George hit at a negative hitting percentage and only registered six kills as the Orange were swept twice. However, she registered double-digit kills against Duke, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in the ACC alone. But she has also hit a negative hitting percentage on four occasions.

“This applies to a lot of freshmen. It’s pretty normal in the development,” Ganesharatnam said. “It’s just instability. (George) obviously does a lot of really good things, but I think one of the things she had to learn is to be stable and do these things on a consistent basis.”

The Orange picked it up to another gear when George played in the second set. With SU trailing 5-4 early in the second set, Ross hit the ball over to Syracuse’s side, which Greta Schlichter dug toward Sierzant. Again, George backed up and raced to where Sierzant set the ball, gently hitting it into the middle of Boston College’s side for the point.

As the set played out, George kept on rolling. Back-to-back kills from the Texas native opened the lead to 12-10. Later in the set, Sierzant fed her again as she extended the lead to 24-15.

George registered five kills in the fourth set, including the set-winner, which took the match to five sets. As the game went down to the wire, the ball constantly found its way toward George.

With the game tied 16-16 thanks to George’s kill, Boston College and Syracuse went back-and-forth. An attack error by Sierzant was followed by an attacker error by Halle Schroder, who scored 15 kills in the win. Anna Herrington’s kill soared by Emma Ortiz and gave the Eagles a lead they never let go of.

During the match-point, George backed up once the ball was on Boston College’s half. Sierzant set it up for the onrushing George, who struck the ball, hoping to keep the Orange alive in sudden death. But she was met at the net by Cornelia Roach, who delivered a game-winning block to hand Syracuse its 15th loss of the year.

“I hope that this match and all the things that we were able to say to the (younger players) and what the coach was saying to the (younger players) they’ll stick with and that in the coming years, they can be those leaders on the team and remember this moment and keep fighting,” Sydney said.

Published on November 21, 2024 at 12:17 am

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu