Syracuse falls to No. 27 Notre Dame 5-2
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Syracuse (11-8, 4-7 Atlantic Coast) lost its seventh straight match to no. 27 Notre Dame (14-9, 5-7 Atlantic Coast) 5-2.
Zeynep Erman did not play today due to injury, giving the Irish an immediate advanatage, as Syracuse does not have enough players on its roster to make a substitution. With five players Syracuse forfeited one of the singles matches along with a doubles matches.
Regardless of Erman’s absence, Syracuse struggled with doubles. Notre Dame won both doubles matches 6-2. Head coach Younes Limam sat Ines Fonte for the doubles allowing her to be ready for the singles round.
Limam elected to keep the pairs the same, as Miyuka Kimoto and Polina Kozyreva lost to ND’s Yashna Yellayi and Rylie Hanford 6-2.
Shiori Ito and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya struggled in the top doubles match against Notre Dame’s Carrie Beckman and Julia Andreach, falling 6-2.
Syracuse put forth a better effort in singles where four of the five matches went to a tie-breaking third set. It was the first time the Orange had done this all season.
The only match to not see a third and final set was the number two singles match, between Syracuse’s Kanapatskaya and Notre Dame’s Bojana Podzer. Kanapatskaya looked very comfortable as she won both sets 6-4.
The first match to see a third set was in the number one singles match. After losing the first set 6-1, Kimoto fought her way to winning the second set 7-5.
The momentum wouldn’t last forever for Kimoto, as ultimately she fell 6-4 in the third and final set.
Kozyreva had a similar day to her doubles partner in singles. She lost the first 6-2 to Yellayi, but found a way to win the next set by the same score to force a third set. Just like Kimoto, she fell in the third set 6-1.
Ito went back and forth in her singles match at the number four spot against Beckman. She won the first set 6-2; however, Beckman would do the same. Beckman won the second set 6-2, forcing a third set to decide the match.
The third match would go to Syracuse, as Ito played her best tennis of the day and won 6-2, securing a point.
The final singles match of the day was in the number five spot. Syracuse’s Fonte battled with Akari Matsuno, as they went to a third set as well. Fonte won the first set 6-2, but would lose the next two sets closely, 6-4 and 6-3.
