Gosia Wlaszczuk left the court in tears. With her sweatshirt wrapped around her head, she tried to contain her emotions.

“She’s very competive,” Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin said of the senior. “She was disappointed in herself sometimes, and sometimes with the decision of a hitter.”

Wlaszczuk, who’s not usually the most emotional player, was getting in the face of her teammates, slamming the ball into the ground and screaming at herself after points.

Yelin spoke about Wlaszczuk’s relentless effort and passion for the game. He mentioned that she gets frustrated when her teammates are not giving 100 percent.

“When she thinks it’s time to push it and somebody is making a sloppy play, that’s when you hear from her,” Yelin said.

The team spoke about the excitement it had to play a top program like North Carolina. Coming off a year in which the Orange was at the bottom of the standings in the ACC, it’s had a much more successful 2015 campaign.

However, Yelin stated the importance of getting excited not only to play, but beat the big teams. On Friday night, SU lost to the Tar Heels, three sets to one, at the Women’s Building.

“All season we’ve said we cannot lose to the bottom teams, those teams we have to beat,” Yelin said. “The Louisville, Florida State, North Carolina teams, we’re hunting them.”

The Tar Heels, who have several six-foot tall players, seemed to overpower the Orange. Nonetheless, Friday’s point leader, Leah Levert said she didn’t feel intimated by UNC.

“I didn’t even realize they were big,” Levert said. “It doesn’t matter, my job is to block.”

Yelin, who paused to let his players answer a question about the size of North Carolina’s first line, was happy to hear that his players didn’t feel intimidated.

“If you’re intimidated by size or physical ability you’ve already lost. I was concerned,” Yelin said.

The ball dropped to the court. Jalissa Trotter had her feet seemingly glued to the wood floor. The five Syracuse players on the floor stared at each other, not saying a word.

Trotter wasn’t the only Syracuse player guilty of miscommunication; it was happening all night.

Wlaszczuk had the second-lowest hitting percentage on the team and was making several unforced errors, missing serves and sets throughout the match.

The team’s assist leader, who received a yellow card during the game, was not made available for comment by SU Athletics after the game.

She was given the card after mocking the ref on what she felt was a missed touch of the net penalty on the Tar Heels. She got the card after several warnings from the referees.

Wlaszczuk was then taken out of the game by Yelin for the first time all match, with fewer than five points remaining in the set.

The frustration, Yelin said, was fueled by missed opportunities.

“We missed a couple of great opportunities… in the most important points, we took a break.”

Published on November 7, 2015 at 12:37 am

Contact Jack: jfupton@syr.edu