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Up 1-0 in sets and 4-1 in the second, Polina Kozyreva looked to put the nail in the coffin with a 0-40 lead over Virginia’s Sara Ziodato.

Ziodato was in control of the point, moving the Russian native around the court. It looked like Kozyreva was out of the point three separate times, but her anticipation kept the point alive. After a lunging backhand set up Virginia for a volley, Kozyreva guessed where it was going and slammed a forehand down the line.

Ziadato returned it into the net, and Kozyreva gained a 5-1 lead in the second. She went on to win the match on her serve and extended her singles winning streak to 10. The senior has excelled this season with a 6-3 doubles record and a 9-0 singles mark coming in. Against No. 15 Virginia, Kozyreva got it done for No. 16 Syracuse, but the team didn’t fare as well, losing its first game of the season, 2-4.

Head coach Younes Limem decided to split up the doubles pair of Kozyreva and Miyuka Kimoto, who have played together in the past four matches.

Kozyreva was paired with Zeynep Erman for the first time all year in the second doubles spot. Kozyreva started off the year switching between Shiori Ito and Ines Fonte, but remained with Kimoto in the recent matches.

“I think they complement each other very well with their style of play,” Limem said. “Yes we came up short, but I was very happy with how they played.”

The Orange started slow against the No. 7 ranked doubles pairing in the nation, Natasha Subhash and Elaine Chervinsky.

In the first game, Kozyreva and Erman could not win a point and were quickly down 0-1. But Polina slammed an overhead shot to take the second game. Syracuse got some energy going, as an Erman forehand winner took the third game and 2-1 lead.

Virginia slowed down the SU run on Polina’s serve. After going down 0-30, Limem came out to talk to the pair, looking to calm them down. The Orange grabbed one point, but Virginia won the next two to tie the match, 2-2.

Virginia dominated on their next serve, winning in a love set. The Cavaliers grabbed a 3-2 lead.

On Erman’s serve, the pair had to fight from behind again after losing the first point. After a double fault, the Orange were 30-40 when Erman hit two big serves to come back and take the game.

At 3-3, Virginia began to pull away. They dominated their serve all match, and it was no different in this game as Virginia took a 4-3 lead.

After losing the first point, Kozyreva responded with a forehand winner. From there, Kozyreva double faulted and it all fell apart. The Virginia pair put away an easy overhead and grabbed a 5-3 lead going into their serve. Virginia won 6-3, securing them the doubles point.

Kozyreva was in the No. 4 spot today, trying to stay undefeated in singles in the same slot she’s occupied six other times.

In the first game of the match, Polina and Ziadato were very evenly matched. The SU player took the first game on her serve, winning on a deuce point. Ziadato evened the set at one, winning on her serve and went on to break Kozyreva, forcing her to come from behind, something she has not done much this year.

But Kozyreva was fine on the spot, breaking her right back to tie it up. In the next game, she came back from down 15-40, utilizing two long rallies and finishing with a down-the-line backhand. She grabbed the lead back, 3-2.

In the next game, Kozyreva used Ziadato’s mistakes against her. After being up 40-30, the Virginia player double-faulted twice to lose the game. Just when it looked like Kozyreva was going to take a big lead, Ziadato kept it 4-3.

The two then traded wins on their serves and the score was at 5-4 going into Ziadato’s serve. This game was filled with long, competitive rallies, until Polina outlasted Ziadato in a deuce point to win the first set.

In the second set, the first game did not indicate how the rest of the match would go.

But, like she has done so many times this year, Kozyreva answered strongly and tied the match. From there, it was all Kozyreva. The senior used her down-the-line backhand to dominate down the stretch, winning the next five games in commanding fashion.

“It’s really about confidence,” Limem said of Kozyreva. “She works extremely hard and I hope she can keep going with this record and build off this match.”

Published on March 3, 2023 at 8:37 pm

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