At set point, Boston College right side Julia Topor smacked a ball down the right sideline, directly in front of the Syracuse bench.

No Orange players went for the ball, hoping it would go out of bounds. The referee in the back corner jumped backward to get out of the way. SU players celebrated, thinking they had just pulled within a point, but the first referee signaled the point, and the third set, for BC.

“To me it was impossible to see if it’s in or out,” SU head coach Leonid Yelin said.

After the point, he yelled across the court at the referee who made the call, disappointed with the outcome.

With a combination of bad luck and inconsistent effort, Syracuse (8-18, 1-13 Atlantic Coast) fell in four sets to Boston College (11-14, 6-8). SU had one fewer attack error than BC despite fewer kills and fewer attempts. Outside hitter Silvi Uattara had her worst match of the season, recording just five kills with a -.034 hitting percentage.

“Every time we are coming in trying,” Yelin said about his team’s game-to-game effort. “Unfortunately, we are trying less.”

The first two sets were back and forth as the teams looked evenly matched. They traded points in the first until the Eagles pulled away at the end, taking the set 25-21. The teams traded runs in the second set, with a 4-0 BC run tying the score at 20.

Up 22-21, SU middle blocker Monika Salkute served the ball down the right line and when it came down, both teams celebrated. The point was awarded to the Orange.

Two points later, on set point, Uattara spiked the ball from the back row into the net, popping it up and sending the ball toward the back right corner. The ball appeared to land beyond the end line, but the point was called for Syracuse, who took the set 25-23 and tied the match at a set apiece.

“Everyone on the team had points when they played great and points when they didn’t play so well,” senior middle blocker Lindsay McCabe said. “Unfortunately, … when we were not playing well, the other players were also brought down by that.”

During the break between the second and third sets, Yelin told his team to stick to its game plan and focus on shutting down BC’s Topor and Katty Workman.

Topor had 10 kills, most coming in the final two sets, while Workman dominated the Orange with 23 kills on 54 attempts.

“(Workman), really good hitter, she can see block and she saw it, know where to hit,” Yelin said.

The third set mirrored the first two, capped by the controversial call at the end. Topor had three kills down the stretch to seal it for the Eagles.

With the score tied at one in the fourth, a hard BC kill forced the Orange to dive for the dig. The ball popped forward to setter Gosia Wlaszczuk, who deftly pushed the ball over the net, but the referee called Wlaszczuk for a double-touch violation.

The setter did not agree with the call, showing the referee how she had interlaced her hands and couldn’t have touched the ball twice.

“How is it double touch if I put my hands like this?” she yelled at the referee before Boston College took control of the match.

An 11-5 run put BC up six and the Orange was reeling. After Topor hit a ball out of bounds, Wlaszczuk gathered her teammates, saying, “Come on, let’s go.”

Her motivation didn’t work as BC took the next three points and eventually the set, 25-15.

Said McCabe: “When they got a little bit of a run of points in the fourth set I think that we really let that effect us.”

Published on November 16, 2014 at 6:06 pm