At 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, the Syracuse volleyball team was at a McDonald’s in Buffalo, rushing to refuel before the second half of a doubleheader.

But the greasy meal hardly helped the cause — Syracuse needed five games to defeat Canisius in what should have been an easy win.

‘After the warmups, (coach Jing Pu) gave us a break at the beginning to digest,’ co-captain Abby Van Mater said. ‘It was sick.’

The Orangewomen faced Niagara in the first match of Sunday’s doubleheader and put the weaker squad away in four games. After an abbreviated lunch break, Syracuse beat Canisius, but the match was far from the cakewalk the Orangewomen expected.

Although the numbers heavily favored SU — Canisius is just 6-15 and plays in the less-competitive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference — Syracuse (16-8, 2-4 Big East) dropped the first game by eight points and lost the third game, 32-30.

‘(Syracuse) scheduled them both in the hopes that we’d beat them in three, but it ended up that we played nine full games,’ Van Mater said. ‘So we were exhausted by the end of the day on our ‘weekend off.’ “

It’s a familiar story for Syracuse — playing down to lesser teams makes the Orangewomen seem less competitive and also results in unnecessary stress and fatigue. And fatigue is the last thing Syracuse needs heading into a weekend of Big East competition against West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

The key failures in SU’s performance Sunday were on defense, Van Mater said. Syracuse posted 10 blocks and 76 digs at Canisius, but the Golden Griffins tallied 12 and 74.

But there were strong individual performances at Canisius. Sophomore Morgan Jones recorded a career-high 24 kills and tied a career high with 46 attacks.

Freshman Kristen Conway posted a career-high 27 digs, and freshman Aila Dommestrup had a personal-best 53 assists.

‘Our consistency level is picking up,’ Pu said. ‘That’s critical for our team. We need it very much.’

Fortunately for the Orangewomen, they had a break from their unexpectedly grueling weekend.

On Saturday, Syracuse headed for Niagara Falls for photo opportunities and sightseeing.

‘A lot of the freshmen and some of the upperclassmen hadn’t seen it,’ Jones said. ‘So it was a really good experience, a team bonding kind of thing.’

Sunday’s matches concluded SU’s non-conference portion of the schedule, and Jones and Van Mater hope this week serves as a turning point.

Syracuse’s next seven games, all against Big East opponents, will be crucial if SU is to qualify for the conference tournament held in November.

But as for the “easy” weekend, Van Mater said, ‘I’m glad it’s over.’

Published on October 22, 2002 at 12:00 pm