Syracuse (2-4) cruised to a straight-set victory over Northeastern (6-6). After losing their first four games, the Orange have responded with consecutive straight-set wins. 

Junior Ella Saada was SU’s standout performer, tallying a team-high 17 kills to go along with five digs and one solo block. Freshman Marina Markova also continued a strong set of performances with 11 kills and seven digs. 

The first set was the closest of the match, with Northeastern holding a slim 6-5 advantage early on before Syracuse opened up a 15-11 midway through the set. Several attacking and service errors committed by Northeastern combined with some strong play from Markova helped SU close out the set 25-19. 

The second set followed a similar pattern to the first, with Syracuse and Northeastern trading points early on to a 10-10 deadlock. After a change at setter, with freshman Lauren Woodford replacing sophomore Elena Karakasi, SU established a 17-11 lead. The six-point lead proved too much for Northeastern as Saada closed out the set with consecutive kills to end the set, 25-17. 

In the third set Northeastern hung with SU, with the scored tied at 11 before SU made a change at setter, putting Karakasi back in the game. From there, SU displayed the dominance it had shown to close out the prior sets, taking the set 25-15.

The Orange will be in action again tomorrow against Harvard at 2 p.m.