ORLANDO, Fla. – Syracuse fell to Central Florida on Friday night on the second day of the UCF Challenge. The final score was 3-0, favoring the Knights.
“I thought that we started out really well,” said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. “We had a realistic chance of winning those first two sets, a lot of points were traded and we were able to slow the game down, but ultimately we made too many errors which cost us in the end.”
The Orange (2-3, 0-0 ACC) lost to the Knights (1-0,0-0 AAC) in straight sets (26-28, 20-25, 11-25).
The first set of the night was an all-out battle, ‘Cuse managed to tie it 22-22, before trading sets with the Knights and allowing them to take the set by two points. In set two the Knights went on a 4-2 run en route to seal the additional set and took the eventual shutout victory.
UCF led in the categories of points (59-47), kills (41-36), aces (10-3), and assists (35-34). ‘Cuse led in digs (31-29), while both sides had eight blocks apiece.
Two players on the Orange roster reached double-digit kills in the matchup, Polina Shemanova recorded 14 and Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk notched 10. Lauren Woodford accounted for half of tonight’s assists with 17 and Alyssa Bert held the ground defensively with 16 digs.
Shemanova’s 14 kills cemented her further in the record book tonight, as she moved to fourth in All-Time Career Kills.
The Orange will face North Florida at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow on the final day…
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