Syracuse falls 4-3 to VT, moves to 1-9 in ACC play
Syracuse fell to Virginia Tech 4-3 for its fifth straight loss Friday. The defeat moves the Orange to 1-9 in ACC play. Henry Zhang | Staff Photographer
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Since its first and only Atlantic Coast Conference victory against Florida State on March 2, Syracuse has been woeful. A West Coast trip offset SU’s comeback win against the Seminoles, as it dropped back-to-back matches against Stanford and California. The following week, Georgia Tech and Clemson offered no solace to SU as it totaled its sixth and seventh losses.
With the ACC Tournament approaching, the Orange needed a get-right match. Friday’s matchup with ACC bottom dwellers Virginia Tech presented that opportunity. Losers of their last four, the Hokies have lost all nine of their ACC matchups and, like SU, have also lost their last four.
Yet, the Orange continued to spiral. Syracuse (8-8, 1-8 ACC) fell short again in another down-to-the-wire match against Virginia Tech (12-10, 1-9 ACC), 4-3 Friday. SU lost its fifth straight doubles point in ACC play but took the lead after Miyuka Kimoto and Serafima Shastova picked up singles victories. Subsequently, the Hokies won three of the next four singles matches for their first ACC win.
“They played (those big points) better, and that’s the way it goes sometimes,” SU head coach Younes Limam said.
Entering Friday, Shastova and Monika Wojcik have been Limam’s most used doubles pair, playing nine matches together. Friday, Limam selected them again in the No. 3 doubles, but the duo started slow.
An SU lob was met by a commanding Linda Ziets-Segura return that put VT up 40-30, which pushed the Hokies ahead 1-0 lead after an error by Shastova. After that, it was all SU. The Orange won five of the next seven games, clinching Shastova and Wojcik’s first doubles win since March 8 against California.
Limam shuffled his doubles pack against Clemson on March 23. Out went Constance Levivier, and in came Shiori Ito to pair with Nelly Knezkova. Yet, results have not followed the change in the lineup.
With Ito and Knezkova on No. 2 doubles, SU claimed an early 2-0 lead. But it lost the next three games to flip the set on its head. A 40-15 VT lead in the sixth game put the Orange in a tough spot. However, back-to-back Knezkova aces spurred SU to tie it at three.
Soon after, VT reclaimed its lead at deuce and refused to relinquish it. Suddenly, the doubles point rested on Kimoto and Anastasia Sysoeva.
Down 40-0 in the 11th game, Arina Gamretkaia’s backhand at the net evaded Sysoeva as VT claimed a 6-5 lead.
In the all-decisive 12th game, VT and SU traded the first four points. At deuce, Kimoto lined up to serve as Tara Gorinsek returned it with a backhand. The two teams traded blows before Gamretkaia rose highest to secure VT the doubles point.
“Doubles points always help. The No. 1 and No. 2 were really close. It didn’t go our way,” Shastova said.
Syracuse has struggled in singles against ACC opponents this season. But against the Hokies, it didn’t seem that way at first.
Following her win over Duke’s then-No. 8 Irina Balus and ensuing ACC Player of the Week honor on Feb. 23, Kimoto lost her next four matches at the No. 1 position, prompting Limam to move her down to the No. 2 singles. Against Clemson, Kimoto finally broke her five-game skid with a win against Amelie Smejkalova.
Friday, her form at the No. 2 singles spot continued as she won 12 of the 14 games played to tie the match at one.
VT’s Laima Frosch entered the sixth game with a 3-2 lead over Shastova, who moved back to her familiar No. 4 position, where she has featured nine times after playing at the No. 3 singles against the Yellow Jackets and Tigers.
The 3-2 lead was Frosch’s first of the match. However, the Jacksonville State transfer quickly put an end to that with victories in the sixth and seventh games. Her backhand at deuce claimed a 2-1 lead for SU in the eighth.
Ito’s loss to Mila Mulready was offset by Wojcik’s fourth-straight singles victory. From then on, things did not go Syracuse’s way.
Knezkova, who was the hero in Syracuse’s sole ACC victory against Florida State, fell to No. 35 Özlem Uslu in three sets. This left the Orange needing Sysoeva to come through after losing the second set in a tiebreak.
Sysoeva never led in the third set, with her ill-timed short return sealing VT’s first ACC victory and plummeting Syracuse to a fifth straight loss.
“I think there are no secrets. We’ve been around long enough to understand that matches can go either way,” Limam said.
