Syracuse loses 3rd straight, falls 7-0 to No. 4 North Carolina
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For the second time in three days, Syracuse fell in Atlantic Coast Conference play. After losing 6-1 to Duke Friday, North Carolina swept SU 7-0 Sunday — the first time all season Younes Limam’s team failed to win a single match. The Orange now sit at 7-4 on the season but have lost their last three matches, all of which were against ACC opponents.
In the doubles matches, North Carolina’s Thea Rabman and Reilly Tran outmatched and overpowered Shiori Ito and Constance Levivier, who fell 6-0. It was Levivier’s first time back in the mix since missing time with an injury.
Fellow newcomer Emilie Elde along with Anastasia Sysoeva didn’t see much success either. Although the tandem did manage to get on the scoreboard, they fell 6-3 to the Tar Heels’s Tatum Evans and Abbey Forbes.
The final doubles match went unfinished, but it didn’t start well for Syracuse. Miyuka Kimoto and Polina Kozyreva took on Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, the No. 15 doubles team in teh country. When the match was called, Syracuse was trailing 5-3.
The Orange didn’t see much more success in singles. SU only forced a third set in one of its six matches. Of the six matches, the Orange faced a ranked opponent in five of them. Evans was the lone unranked Tar Heel to compete in singles matches Sunday. Still, Evans took care of Sysoeva 6-2, 6-2. No. 25 Crawley beat Elde 6-1, 6-1.
No. 50 Tran beat Kozyreva 6-4, 6-0. Although Kozyreva put up a fight in the first set, she quickly fell behind. Levivier did have a slightly stronger showing in her singles match but the talent gap was still evident as the sophomore fell to No. 54 Rabman 4-6, 2-6. Ito had a similar match, falling to No. 85 Forbes 3-6, 2-6.
The closest Syracuse came to winning a match was when No. 100 Kimoto faced off against No. 14 Tanguilig, the highest-ranked UNC player. Kimoto beat Tanguilig 6-2 in the first set.
But Tanguilig eventually found her groove in the second set, winning 6-4. Tanguilig won the third set, a tiebreaker, 10-4 to help the Tar Heels complete their sweep of the Orange.
After a rough weekend on the road, Syracuse returns home to host Buffalo Thursday.
