Orange beat Duke on Senior Day in volleyball

Sophomore Abby Casiano and redshirt sophomore Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk paced the Syracuse offense in a 3-2 victory against Duke on Sunday at the Women’s Building. Casiano led all players with 14 kills, and added six blocks and seven digs, while Lokhmanchuk had 13 kills, seven digs and three blocks. Senior Ella Saada, who was honored prior to the match on Senior Day, contributed 10 kills, 10 digs and two blocks in her final home match for the Orange (7-7, overall, 7-7 Atlantic Coast Conference).

In the first set, Duke (911) used a 12-6 run midway to turn a 6-5 lead into an 18-11 advantage and held on for the 25-19 win. Sophomore Abby Casiano and redshirt sophomore Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk led the Orange offense with four and three kills respectively.

Syracuse answered in the second set with a 25-18 victory. With the score tied 4-4, the Orange went on a 13-6 run to take a 17-10 lead. Lokhmanchuk opened the set scoring the first three points on kills for Syracuse and finished the set with six kills and two blocks.

Syracuse took a 2-1 lead in the match winning the third set, 25-17. The Orange jumped out to a 10-3 lead and maintained the advantage throughout. Casiano had four kills and two blocks, while Saada added three kills and eight digs.

Duke won the fourth set, 25-15, to force the fifth.

Trailing 11-10, the Orange scored three in a row to take a 14-11 lead. Orange freshman Naomi Franco put away a kill, teamed with Casiano for a block and then put away a kill to give the Orange a 13-11 advantage. After a Duke timeout. Saada gave the Orange a 14-11 advantage with a kill. The Blue Devils recorded a kill to make the score 14-12 before the Orange prevailed on a Duke ball handling error.

Up Next

Syracuse will close out the regular season with a pair of matches at Florida State. The Orange will play FSU on Thursday April 1 and NC State on Friday April 2.