Syracuse Tennis Falls to Nittany Lions in First Loss of Season
Syracuse suffered its first loss of the season today as they fell 5-2 to the Penn State Nittany Lions at Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse. Penn State claimed the first point of the day, winning the doubles matches 2-1 before continuing their dominance in the singles matches, winning 4 out of 6.
Syracuse came out strong in the doubles matches, with the sophomore pairing of Viktoriya Kanapatskaya and Ines Fonte winning their match in dominant fashion, 6-0. However, Syracuse dropped the remaining two doubles sets, with the freshman duo of Shiori Ito and Miyuka Kimoto losing 6-4 in a close and hard-fought match to put the first point on the board in favor of Penn State.
Syracuse could not hold off the Nittany Lions in the singles either, as they won the first 3 out of 4 matches to claim the victory for the day.
“I was very proud of their fight and their resiliency. Couldn’t be prouder of the two that were still battling,” Coach Younes Limam said about the two matches being played by Ito and Fonte that were still going after Penn State had already claimed the victory against the Orange.
Junior Polina Kozyreva provided a bright spot on the day for the Orange, as she defeated her opponent 6-0, 6-1 in straight sets. “Controlling what she can and preparing for her matches,” Coach Limam said about how Kozyreva can continue her successful momentum going forward into the season. Kozyreva remains undefeated on the season in singles competition.
Syracuse will be home again next Sunday at Drumlins against Cornell before they embark on a road trip to Philadelphia the following weekend, where they face off against Temple and Drexel.