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After a perfect nonconference record of 12-0, Syracuse faltered in its first two Atlantic Coast Conference matchups. A trip to North Carolina showed two sides of SU volleyball. In the first two sets against UNC, SU put up its lowest kill, assist, ace and point totals while hitting at a season-worst 0.012% clip.

But in the third set, SU started to click and came close to winning, only losing by three, compared to 11 and 16 in the first two sets. Against the Blue Devils, the Orange won their first set in ACC play this season, scoring over 20 points in three of the four sets. Despite losing both matches, head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam felt his team competed well against UNC and Duke.

"The fact that we went 0-2 didn't demoralize us," Ganesharatnam said. "I thought we looked at the mistakes we made and tried to grow from it."

Syracuse was certainly able to create momentum on its end and halt momentum against a ranked opponent. In its matchup with No. 17 Southern Methodist University, it produced its lowest kill total (37) since its loss against No. 13 Kentucky in September, when it put up 36 in a three-set loss.

SMU (11-3, 3-0 ACC) defeated Syracuse (12-3, 0-3 ACC) 3-0, though SU had a strong showing. However, an error or an SMU point would halt the run, and the Mustangs would resume control again. In many instances, Syracuse would score a point and immediately return to square one, leading to its third straight loss.

The last time Syracuse beat an American Volleyball Coaches Association ranked opponent was in 2018 versus No. 22 Louisville in five sets. In the first ranked matchup of the year for the Orange, SMU controlled the lead, with the only two ties in the matchup coming in the heavily-contested third set.

"At times, I didn't know we were down by that much," graduate captain Nikki Shimao said. "I didn't feel it, so I think that's a good thing."

The Orange went on big runs, despite never taking the lead in the match. In the first set, a 5-0 run, which included back-to-back service aces from sophomore setter Veronica Sierzant and a kill for redshirt freshman Skylar Geroge, cut the lead from 16-9 to 16-13. Ten times during the match, SU converted on a kill or service ace and immediately followed it up with an error.

At 7-4 in the heavily-contested third set, kills from Sara Wasiakowska were followed by service errors from George and Zharia Harris-Waddy. Harris-Waddy matched up with SMU's middle blockers and was one of many who fell victim to a lack of potency during the match.

Syracuse committed 19 errors against SMU, its tied-fourth largest this season, while only scoring 84 attempts, its second-lowest of the season. Four players had at least three errors, with George having the most with seven. The only time Syracuse committed more errors was against Fordham, Idaho, Iowa State and Cornell. In all of those matches, Syracuse was able to come out with the win.

"Sometimes those errors are going to happen," Shimao said. "I think the biggest thing is it happened and let's just move on. Having that mindset of moving forward is something we're going to continue to implement."

In the third set, a kill from Sydney Moore completed an 8-4 run for the Orange to tie the game at 21-21. However, an attack error from George gave SMU the lead back, and the Mustangs did not look back, taking three of the last four points to win the match.

SU's 0.060% hitting clip increased from the match against the Tar Heels but decreased from the previous match against the Blue Devils. The third set was an indicator of what the Orange could do, but Syracuse couldn't turn scoring runs into set wins throughout the match.

"We showed it in the third set and I think we're going to continue to show it and we're going to beat a ranked opponent," Shimao said.