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Syracuse (14-12, 2-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) won its second ACC game, completing a reverse sweep against Notre Dame (9-14, 2-12 ACC). After falling behind two sets, SU’s Zharia Harris-Waddy’s performance over the final three sets propelled it to its first reverse sweep since 2022. The sophomore notched a career-high 17 kills, 10 blocks and 24 points versus the Fighting Irish. Harris-Waddy became the first Syracuse player since 2021 with double-digit blocks while also notching a double-double with kills and blocks.
“I saw once I got 10 kills, I noticed, and I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I had my career high in the last game.’ And I was like, ‘OK, ‘I’m gonna try and break it this time,’” Harris-Waddy said.
Harris-Waddy started slowly, with just two kills in each of the first two sets. Notre Dame thrived early while the Orange struggled to find a rhythm offensively.
“We felt like even though we lost two sets, it was not so much because of the performance Notre Dame had, it was more the performance we had,” SU head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said. “We felt like these are some things we can correct and that we didn’t feel like we competed at the highest level the first two sets.”
Syracuse started the third set sluggish but crept back in, trying to avoid another home sweep. After going down 10-7, the Orange responded with a 4-0 run complemented by two straight kills from Harris-Waddy that forced Notre Dame to call a timeout. When SU took a 21-20 lead later in the set, two more consecutive kills from the sophomore forced another timeout and gave Syracuse the lead for good. Harris-Waddy finished the third set with six kills and clinched double-digit kills for the second time all year.
The Orange started the fourth set slowly, going down 3-0. Then, two kills from Harris-Waddy kickstarted a 10-2 Syracuse run. SU kept its lead for most of the set, but Notre Dame evened it 16-16. Yet, Harris-Waddy responded with another timely kill to regain SU the lead. Her sixth kill of the set clinched the fourth set for the Orange.
In the fifth set, Harris-Waddy combined with Sara Wasiakowska for one of Syracuse’s 19 blocks for its first point in the set. She then recorded an ace on the next play. Harris-Waddy’s 17th kill trimmed Notre Dame’s advantage to 7-6 and helped propel SU to take the lead and control of the clinching set.
Harris-Waddy finished with a .400 hitting percentage, her second-highest in ACC play. She recorded 30 attacks, also a career-high, and had over six attacks per set for the third consecutive game.
“I feel like I’m confident in what I’m doing the majority of the time,” Harris-Waddy said. “I know my skills and ability, really just keeping a consistent mindset, because no matter if I’m playing or not, I know my value as a player.”
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