Syracuse volleyball edges St. John’s in five sets to stay unbeaten in home invitational

Day two of the Syracuse Invitational in the Women’s Building ended with a thriller, as Syracuse volleyball came from behind to defeat St. John’s 3-2 in its final non-conference matchup.

The Orange rallied after dropping the first and third sets, winning the last two to secure the comeback.

“The team showed a lot of character coming back and being really strong”, head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “St. John’s is a really good team.”

The end result was exactly what the Orange needed, but they weren’t ready out of the gate the same way the Red Storm were. 

St. John’s, which defeated Siena earlier in the day, dominated the first set 25-20 while holding Syracuse to just six kills.

The Orange responded well in the second set, making the necessary changes to win the set 25-17. 

The performance in that set carried over throughout the rest of the match, a shift fueled by several key contributors.

Redshirt sophomore Skylar George entered the contest in the second set, and finished with 10 kills and two crucial aces to keep the teams momentum high.

“The bench really brought a lot of energy,” George said. “We need to be fearless.”

Another major part of the Orange’s success was senior outside hitter Gabby McLaughlin.

McLaughlin tallied her season high 19 kills, many of those coming in the final two sets of the teams comeback.

“All of us really wanted it,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t think there was a doubt in anyone’s mind that we were going to lose that match.”

The Orange outscored St. John’s 40-23 over the final two sets, closing with 13 services aces overall and showing their team identity in those late moments.

“Our serve receive overall was pretty stable,” Ganesharatnam said. “That really gave us a great advantage”.

With the win, Syracuse improved to 2-0 in the Invitational and 8-2 overall.

Syracuse will play the remainder of their matchups against ACC opponents and will continue to discover their identity.

“We pretty much started this program from scratch,” Ganesharatnam noted on the squad he’s built and what they represent as a group. “We’re not New York City, we’re central New York”.

Syracuse volleyball will travel away from central New York as they begin ACC play, taking on Notre Dame on Friday and Louisville on Sunday.

McLaughlin said the team embraces the challenge of being on the road.

“I really want to shut the crowd down,” McLaughlin said.

“We’re always going to be the underdogs and I think that means we have something to prove,” George said.