Syracuse relents early lead, comes up short at Wake Forest

After jumping out to an early lead Saturday, Syracuse couldn’t finish the job it started and lost its first of two weekend road tests.

The Orange (7-10, 2-9 Atlantic Coast) won the doubles point and looked in control during singles play before falling 4-3 to Wake Forest (13-11, 3-9) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The doubles tandem of Amanda Rodgers and Rhiann Newborn made quick work of Andrea Retolaza and Xue Zhang, winning 8-3. Breanna Bachini and Nicole Mitchell then won their match in a tiebreaker after previously falling behind 7-5, clinching the doubles point for SU.

Syracuse’s Valeria Salazar was the first Syracuse player to win a singles match. She disposed of Zhang, 6-4, 6-2, at second singles.

At third singles, Newborn also won for the Orange, beating Samantha Asch in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

Syracuse’s fourth through sixth singles players, however, were not as fortunate. Bachini lost to Luisa Fernandez at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 7-5. Komal Safdar lost a competitive match at fifth singles, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to Karen Forman. At sixth singles, Mitchell won only one game in a straight-set loss to Courtney Meredith.

With the match tied at 3-3, Syracuse’s fate for the day rested on the shoulders of Rodgers, SU’s No. 1 singles player. And for a moment, it looked like she might send the Orange off a winner.

After splitting the first two sets, Rodgers held a 4-2 and 5-4 lead in the third set against Kimmy Guerin. But she ultimately lost it in a tiebreaker and thus dropped the match, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Syracuse still has a chance to salvage the road trip and will seek its third ACC victory when it meets Virginia Tech (13-7, 4-6) on Sunday at 10 a.m. in Blacksburg, Virginia.