Syracuse drops 5th straight, falls 6-1 to No. 21 Miami
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Entering Syracuse’s contest versus No. 21 Miami, it dropped its last four games, all coming against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Already falling to Florida State Friday, the Orange were looking for a bounce back in the Sunshine State.
But SU couldn’t find its footing early and spiraled. The Orange (9-9, 3-8 ACC) fell to the Hurricanes (8-4, 6-2 ACC) 6-1 Sunday, ending their four-game road trip with four straight losses.
From the beginning, Miami was in control. The Hurricanes used a quick doubles victory to gain momentum. From there, it was all Miami. Alexa Noel proved why she is currently the No. 16 player in the country with strong performances in both doubles and singles.
In doubles, Miami’s Audrey Boch-Collins and Noel made quick work of Shiori Ito and Emilie Elde. The duo won 6-2, quickly followed by Leonie Schuknecht and Antonia Balzert’s 6-3 win over Anastasia Sysoeva and Constance Levivier.
SU’s strongest doubles pairing of Viktoriya Kanapatskaya and Miyuka Kimoto ended their set early as the other two games ended in quick succession. The Orange have not won a doubles point since their victory over Buffalo on March 7.
In singles, SU didn’t fare much better. Kanapatskaya and Noel faced in the No. 1 spot, with Noel taking a straight-sets victory, 6-0, 6-2. The No. 16 player in the country showed her talent, never giving Kanapatskaya a chance to get into the match.
Miami’s second-highest-ranked player, Isabella Pfennig, also controlled her singles contest. Facing Elde, Pfennig showcased her experience over the sophomore, winning 6-1, 6-0. Pfennig was a step ahead throughout the match while Elde simply couldn’t catch up.
Losses from Ito and Levivier sealed the Orange’s fate, the latter being SU’s worst loss of the day. Facing Boch-Collins, Levivier failed to win a single game, falling in consecutive sets 6-0, 6-0. The sophomore has not won a match since January 28 against Cornell.
Despite the dominance from Miami, SU put up a fight in a few matches. Ines Fonte won the second set of her matchup against Xinyi Nong 6-2. The senior eventually fell in the tiebreaker set, giving Miami its sixth point of the day.
The lone SU point of the contest came courtesy of Sysoeva. Placed in the No. 3 spot against the Balzert, Sysoeva came out strong, winning the first set 6-4. Though, Balzert rallied and forced a third set after a 6-3 victory. The contest was already decided, but Sysoeva won the tiebreaker and gave SU a consolation point.
The Orange leave the state of Florida after an unsuccessful road trip that saw just six set wins across two matches. After losing five straight, SU falls to .500 with two matches remaining in the regular season.
