Unforced errors continue to drag Syracuse down.

Outside hitter Samantha Clarey struck a ball out of bounds to end what had been a competitive first set against Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. Two net violations in the early stages of the set and four Syracuse attacking errors helped the Panthers pull away for a 25-22 win.

The Orange continued to give Pitt easy points in a three-set sweep by the Panthers. The unforced errors cost Syracuse crucial points in what was otherwise a competitive match. The mistakes are one of the main causes of the Orange’s recent slide. SU has lost six of its last eight games with some coming against teams they expected to beat, including Buffalo and Binghamton.

“It was a lot of unforced mistakes, a lot of errors,” Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin said. “This is the game, unfortunately. If we made less errors it might have been different.”

The net violations were a symptom of aggressive play, Syracuse assistant coach Stephanie Cantway said. The coaching staff has been stressing assertiveness on the block, so those errors came as a side effect. Mistakes in other facets of the game ultimately became critical.

“When we’re blocking well, we’re going to have some errors; it’s kind of a give and take,” Cantway said. “When you’re being aggressive and hitting well and serving well, you can have errors. But we weren’t being aggressive in those areas and still had errors, and that’s what got us to where we are.”

Those attacking woes worsened as the match went on. The Orange made five errors each in the second and third sets of the match. Its hitting rate dropped from .275 in the first set to .147 in the second and .065 in the third. Outside hitter Silvi Uattara posted nearly as many kills and attacking errors as the rest of the team combined. Hitting mistakes kept the Orange from establishing a consistent offensive game.

Service struggles disrupted Syracuse nearly as much. The team made four service errors in the match, and most of them came at important points.

Andrea Fisher hit a serve out of bounds to give Pitt a 13-11 advantage and start a 3-0 run in the second set. When the Orange got the serve back, Emily Betteridge hit a serve into the net to swing the momentum back to Pitt. The Panthers began pulling away soon after.

Fisher, who despite tallying six kills made three attacking errors and two service errors, said the team gets flustered when one player makes a mistake, and it leads to even more mistakes.

“As a team, if someone makes an error, it kind of affects all of us,” Fisher said. “We really need to work on just staying focused individually and not letting our errors affect us.”

Yelin said careless mistakes have been Syracuse’s downfall in losses against beatable competition. He knows it’s something his team needs to improve upon as it enters the thick of Big East competition.

“A lot of times this year we’ve lost because of our mistakes,” Yelin said. “It’s discipline and focus, and that’s something we need to change.”

 

Published on October 8, 2012 at 1:12 am

Contact Jacob: jspramuk@syr.edu