Miami Caps Off Home Slate Against Boston College and Syracuse
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team will play its final two home matches of the season when it hosts Boston College Thursday and Syracuse Sunday.
In addition to a battle for the fourth place in the standings, Sunday’s contest against the Orange (17-10, 9-5 ACC) will be the Hurricanes’ (15-5, 9-5 ACC) Senior Day. Five seniors – Alyssa Basdavanos, Sylvia Hernandez, Brooke McDermott, Sakile Simmons and Olga Strantzali – will play their last match in the James L. Knight Sports Complex.
“Sunday will be an opportunity for the seniors to play together at home one more time, just like they did four years ago,” said Miami head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara said, who will send off his first Canes recruiting class at the end of the season. “For me, this will be a special day, because this is the first class that I brought in and their contributions to the program have been tremendous. It’s been a lot of fun to have them around and watch them grow and develop as players and human beings. It has been an incredible experience for me to have them on the team and I really hope they enjoy their day Sunday.”
These seniors have played a significant role in Miami’s success this season, both on the offensive and defensive ends. So far this season, the class of 2017 has contributed 513 kills (49 percent of the team’s total), 57 service aces (exactly half of the team’s 114 this campaign), 547 digs (53 percent of team’s total) and 109 blocks (over 75 percent of team’s total).
The Canes have been historically dominant against this week’s opponents, combining for a 28-3 record against the Golden Eagles (6-18, 3-11 ACC) and Syracuse. In addition, Miami is riding a 13-match win streak into its match with BC.
Boston College struggled in ACC play last week and dropped straight-set contests on the road to North Carolina and NC State, respectively. Those defeats canceled a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech at home and extended the Golden Eagles’ negative run to seven losses in the last eight matches. BC begins play this week as one of the four teams that are 3-11 in conference play and that lead only Clemson in the standings.
Syracuse met the same fate as Boston College at the hands of UNC and NC State last week, but it is still very much in the running for the one of the top four ACC spots, which would have earned them an NCAA postseason berth a season ago. This is the Orange’s last road trip of the season; its four remaining matches against Wake Forest, Duke, Notre Dame and Louisville will all be played at home. The Canes enter the important fixture with a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series and are coming off a 3-1 win in the last meeting between the two teams.
Miami’s last four matches of the season are all on the road. Next week the Hurricanes will make a trip north to Virginia, where they will take on the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
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