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When Syracuse took on Virginia Tech on Friday, it was a match between two teams desperately looking for a pulse. The Orange and the Hokies had combined for just one Atlantic Coast Conference win coming into the match. For both sides, something had to give.

For Syracuse, it was on the wrong end of another loss, falling 4-3. The defeat marked SU’s fifth straight loss and dropped its ACC record to 1-8. The Orange led 2-1, but VT won three of the four remaining singles matches to claim its first conference victory of the season.

In the stacked ACC, teams must take advantage of opportunities against lower-tier opponents. Sunday’s matchup against Virginia reflected that, as Syracuse (8-9, 1-9 ACC) fell to No. 5 Virginia (17-4, 9-2 ACC) 4-1. While the Orange had an opportunity to come back in singles play, losing the doubles point was too big an obstacle to overcome.

Syracuse’s doubles struggles have been well documented, and Sunday’s match was not an ideal opportunity to get into a rhythm. Virginia boasts the No. 1 doubles team in the country in Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard.

Chervinsky and Collard are 26-2 on the season, most recently downing Boston College 6-2 on Friday. The Orange’s path to the doubles point would likely have had to come through the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, as only one of the other two Cavaliers’ doubles teams was ranked.

SU head coach Younes Limam opted to pair Shiori Ito and Constance Levivier together in the No. 2 doubles spot — the duo’s first time playing together all season. Ito and Levivier split the first six games with Virginia’s No. 37 Martina Genis Salas and Annabelle Xu. But Salas and Xu extended their advantage to 5-3 after SU’s shot sailed out of play and won the following game to take the match 6-3.

Serafima Shastova and Monika Wojcik have been a steady presence operating out of the No. 3 doubles position, this time taking on Karolina Kozakova and Sara Ziodato.

Trailing 2-0 and at the deuce point, Wojcik executed a slicing volley at the net to cut the lead to 2-1. In the following game, Shastova was caught flat-footed on a Kozakova serve that widened Virginia’s lead. UVA’s lead grew to 4-1 as Shastova fired a routine backhand return into the net.

From there, Virginia cruised to a 6-3 victory to claim the doubles point. Miyuka Kimoto and Nelly Knezkova’s match was unfinished, but Limam was proud of their effort against Virginia’s star-studded duo.

“Doubles was really good. I think we played a very competitive match against the No. 1 team in the country,” Limam said.

The road didn’t get any easier for the Orange in singles. Four players in UVA’s singles rotation have at least 20 wins; Syracuse has just one player with double-digit singles wins — Wojcik’s 10.

Wojcik started in the No. 5 singles spot for just the second time in conference play – a rare change from the No. 6 spot, where she is 8-2 on the season. Despite taking the first game against Collard Melodie, Wojcik lost six in a row to lose the first set. She fared better in the second set but ultimately fell 6-1, 6-4.

Knezkova had a similar result in the No. 2 singles position. Down 3-0, Knezkova responded — winning game four and sprinting to the net to fire a Chervinsky drop shot into the backcourt for the deciding point in the fifth game.

But Chervinsky, UVA’s highest-ranked singles player at No. 26, extended the lead to 5-4 and powered a serve past the flat-footed Knezkova to win the first set. That momentum carried into the second set, as Chervinsky blitzed Knezkova, racing out to a 4-0 lead. She won comfortably 6-1.

After struggling in doubles, Shastova put together a dominant performance against No. 30 Xu in singles, displaying multiple clinical backhand shots en route to a 6-0 first-set victory. Xu opened with a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Shastova gained control to win the next four games and put Syracuse’s first point on the board.

Limam’s message prior to the game was to have “no regrets,” and down 3-1, Syracuse needed an answer.

Kimoto provided it for SU. After losing the first set, Kimoto was down 5-4 and on the brink of defeat against Ziodato. But Kimoto forced a tiebreak and won it to bring the match to a third set. The Orange would have to flip the remaining three matches to complete the comeback victory.

Isabelle Lacy, after beating Anastasia Sysoeva in a tiebreak first set, battled back from down 5-2 to force another tiebreak. And again, it was all Lacy. She executed a nifty drop shot to make it 6-2, and Sysoeva’s return off the serve landed long to clinch the match for Virginia.

Limam said the match proved SU is close to reaching its potential, despite the loss.

“I think we’re knocking on the door, and we’re about to crush the door,” Limam said.

Published on April 6, 2025 at 4:24 pm