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Despite losing the doubles point against Delaware, Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) prevailed against the Blue Hens (1-1, 0-0 Colonial Athletic) 5-2 on Sunday at Drumlins Country Club.

In the opening doubles matches, Shiori Ito and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya took care of business against Delaware’s Toni Nelson and Julieta Honrubia, winning 6-2 while dominating both service and net play. The No. 2 doubles match was the closest of the three, as Ines Fonte and Polina Kozyreva squeaked by Maryia Hrynashka and Alina Vasilenko. Kozyreva and Fonte had a slow start, dropping the first three games due to a mix of unforced errors and more solid net play from Delaware. SU won the next three games, but Delaware closed it out, winning 6-4.

As the two doubles matches were split, the point came down to the No. 1 doubles match, featuring Miyuka Kimoto and Zeynep Erman for SU against Adel-Byanu Abidullina and Eliza Askarova of the Blue Hens, featuring long and intense rallies. Kimoto, wearing a brace on her elbow, struggled early as SU failed to establish rhythm with unforced errors. Delaware handily took care of Kimoto and Erman, winning 6-2, and taking the doubles points away from the Orange for the first time this year.

Still, the Orange fought back in the singles match and dug out of the hole early.

“I’m super proud of them,” coach Younes Limam said. “They showed a lot of resiliency, poise, and heart.”

Kanapatskaya, Erman, and Kozyreva won each of their singles matches with relative ease. Kanapatskaya topped Vasilenko 6-3, 6-3 despite losing the match’s opening game. Erman similarly dropped the match’s first game, but she overcame her unforced errors by painting the corners of the court to win 6-3, 6-3 against Askarova. Kozyreva had the easiest match of the three, as she dominated Delaware’s Nelson 6-0, 6-3. 

“Polina [Kozyreva] has been rock solid for us so far,” Limam said. “She’s playing great tennis, seeing her getting that confidence and getting off the floor quickly is always a good sign.”

Fonte, although she dropped the first three games of the match, used long rallies and forced Honrubia into tough spots to win 12 of the next 13 games, winning 6-3, 6-1.

The most competitive match of the day came between Ito and Hrynashka. The first set was neck-and-neck, which led to long rallies. In a common theme, Ito similarly dropped the first game of the set but tightly prevailed 7-5. The second set wasn’t much different, as despite dropping the first two games, Ito used her serves and all-around well-balanced play to come back again and win 6-4 off of a break point.

The highest-energy match also happened to be the most anticipated between UD’s Abidullin and SU’s Kimoto, who injured her elbow in her last singles match. From the start, Abidullina asserted her dominance while Kimoto struggled by making uncharacteristic unforced errors. Abidullina won four of the first games, responding to whatever Kimoto would throw at her. Kimoto lost the first set 6-2.

The second set was where Kimoto turned it around. Despite starting down 1-2, Kimoto began looking more like herself with strong serves and a few beautifully placed slices. Yet after breaking Abidullina’s serve, Kimoto found herself right back in it, leading the second set 4-3 and limiting the unforced errors. 

The two top opponents continued to trade blows all the way until the tiebreaker in the second set. Abidullin turned up the energy as Kimoto failed to get the ball over the net twice, finding herself down 5-1. Yet once again, Kimoto wouldn’t go out quietly, frustrating her opponent to come within one point, down 6-5 with Abidullin having the opportunity to win the match on service.  Right when it felt the momentum begin to swing, Kimoto hit her return shot long, much to the dismay of Limam who jumped out of his seat to protest the call.

“She showed a lot of heart, a lot of fight,” Limam said. “Her opponent was extremely good and tough and she stayed with her all the way to the end.”

Syracuse travels to Drexel for its first away match of the season in its next matchup.

“It’ll be a great road trip for us to see how we play on the road. Drexel is a good team so we got to have a good practice this week,” Limam said. “That hopefully will get us a little bit ready before we play Boston College and Buffalo.”

Published on January 29, 2023 at 6:19 pm

Contact Brooks: [email protected]