Syracuse tennis surrenders to Georgia Tech, eliminated in second round of ACC Tournament
Syracuse tennis surrenders to Georgia Tech
No. 10 seed Syracuse tennis fell to 7th-seeded Georgia Tech (4-0) Thursday in the second round of the conference tournament held in Cary, North Carolina, extending its losing streak to nine.
The Orange put up the usual doubles lineup, pairing Zeynep Erman and Ines Fonte as the first to battle No. 85 doubles Kylie Bilchev and Alejandra Cruz of the Yellow Jackets.
Shiori Ito and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya took the second doubles session against Monika Dedaj and Kate Sharabura. The third doubles were Polina Kozyreva and Miyuka Kimoto, who faced Carol Lee and Rosie Garcia Gross.
Kozyreva and Kimoto started off well 2-0. But Lee, who was on the All-ACC First Team last year, and Gross frustrated the Orange duo. The Orange didn’t earn another point, falling 6-2.
Ito and Kanapatskaya subsequently responded, maintaining the lead until they secured a 6-3 victory over Dedaj and Sharabura.
Left it all on the court ❤️🍊 pic.twitter.com/2FS82zBMyt
— Syracuse Tennis (@Cuse_Tennis) April 20, 2023
While trailing 4-2, Forte concentrated and continued to score in front of the net. Although her effort brought Syracuse to three wins, her and Erman lost to George Tech. As a result, the Yellow Jackets took the lead.
Turning to the singles, Erman, the lone ranked Syracuse player at No. 102, took on No. 13 Lee. However, Syracuse forfeited the game when Erman lagged 2-0 behind Lee due to an injury.
Erman has suffered from a back injury throughout the season, not participating, in two straight ACC games against Notre Dame on April 14 and Louisville on April 16. She forfeited both games.
Kimoto contributed a tough singles win against North Carolina’s Abbey Forbes, ranked at No. 18, on March 26, which ended her three-game losing streak.
But, Kimoto experienced another singles loss, extending it to four games. She continued to struggle taking control of her unforced errors while going up against No. 28 Bilchev, dropping 6-1 and 6-1.
Kozyreva, who has the most Syracuse singles wins, won the first two games against Cruz. But, he lead quickly evaporated to lose in two sets 6-3 and 6-0. Cruz’s singles point clinched Yellow Jackets’ to advance to the next round, officially eliminating Syracuse.
Before Syracuse decided to forfeit the rest of the two singles, Ito and Fonte showed their skills as they both won their first sets. Ito moved back and forth, securing a 6-4 first set win over Gross. Fonte defeated Sharabura, winning the set 6-4.
is a contributor for The NewsHouse.
