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Zeynep Erman and Shiori Ito were left trailing 0-1 in their No. 3 doubles match — their first paired together. In the beginning of the second set, after multiple, powerful back-and-forth rallies, NC State’s Priska Nugroho served a forehand volley, catching Ito off guard, who barely tapped the ball with her racket.

Ito nearly tripped to the ground and got up while flustering her arms up and down in frustration about their play. The visible disappointment set the tone for the Orange, as NC State’s Nugroho and Sophie Abrams went on to win 6-1.

The Orange were dominated by No. 2 NC State in a 6-1 defeat, giving them their fourth consecutive loss, which dropped SU’s record to 7-8 overall and 1-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“Obviously we’re playing a team that is ranked as high for a reason,” head coach Younes Limam said. “I was very proud of how we battled on every court.”

Syracuse struggled during the rest of doubles play, too. Miyuka Kimoto and Polina Kozyreva entered their match with a 5-4 overall record, and they matched up with NC State’s Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller, the 11th-ranked Intercollegiate Tennis Association women’s collegiate doubles pair in the nation. Kozyreva and Kimoto barely got a chance to adjust to their opponents, who transitioned the speed of the ball at a pace the SU duo couldn’t handle.

The Wolfpack duo pummeled their way to a shutout 6-0 win over Kozyreva and Kimoto, contributing to NC State’s doubles play point to lead the match 1-0. Ines Fonte and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya performed the best compared to their Orange teammates, in a back-and-forth match with NC State’s Amelia Rajecki and Abigail Rencheli. The SU duo came out blazing, not letting the Wolfpack easily earn points. SU trailed 3-2 when the match was unfinished since NC State had already received the doubles point in the other two matches.

Kimoto only won a combined two games in her matchup with Nugroho, losing both sets 6-1. Kimoto was unable to battle the swift style of play that made it hard for her to set up her opponent with difficult shots.

Ito matched up with Rajecki, who forced Ito to hustle corner to corner to keep the ball inbounds. In the end, Ito fell in both games 6-2, 6-3, dropping her singles record to 7-7.

Fonte, who has struggled in singles play throughout the season, came out strong and won the first set 6-4 in her matchup with Abrams. Fonte’s improvement was shown through her dynamic shots and ability to control the first set of the match. Abrams, though, took over the second set with a quick 5-0 lead. Fonte won the next two games while Abrams took the last game to win the set 6-2. The third set came down to a tiebreaker, which Abrams ran away with 10-5.

Kozyreva entered her match with Miller with a 10-2 overall singles record and a 3-2 conference record. The first set went to Kozyreva as she sliced her forehand volleys through Miller point after point. Miller answered back with a high-powered performance to claw her way back to a 6-2 win in the second set. The last of the match came down to a tiebreaker. Kozyreva earned her last point on a powerful volley to keep Miller on her toes, only to lose the ball in sight, giving Kozyreva the win.

“She works hard every single day, she plays with a lot of determination and passion and grit,” Limam said. “She went into tough competitive matches on Friday and today, and hopefully that will do a lot of good for her confidence.”

The last singles match to end was between Kanapatskaya and Rencheli. Early on in the first set, Kanapatskaya pounded her way to a 2-1 lead. After grabbing a 4-2 lead, the middle of the seventh game came to a stop after Kanapatskaya scored, due to the line judge calling a “let” in which a ball from another court had interrupted the game. Kanapatskaya was visibly frustrated as she argued with the judge regarding the call. Later, a point given to Kanapatskaya during the seventh game resulted in Rencheli saying, “No way, no way, that hit the line!”

After a lengthy first set, Kanapatskaya earned her game-winning point with a terrific shot that forced Rencheli to run back to save the ball, only to hit the green curtain hard while the ball flew in the air, but never past the net.

The second set became Rencheli’s, and she yelled after each point earned, eventually winning the set 6-2 to force a tiebreaker.

“(Kanapatskaya) hung in there, I was very pleased with how she started the match,” Limam said. “She played decisive tennis and that’s when she plays her best.”

In the end, Rencheli pumped her fist in the air after winning the match 11-9 in the tiebreaker.

“Our message is the same: It’s about getting better every day and doing everything we can control,” Limam said.

Published on March 27, 2022 at 6:14 pm

Contact Irie: irharris@syr.edu