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The last time Syracuse was 7-0, it was Feb. 20, 2016, and it had just beaten Boston College. The Orange went on to beat six ranked teams that year, including No. 35 NC State in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and No. 19 Wake Forest. The Orange would lose to seventh-ranked Miami in the following round.

In the NCAA tournament, SU would eliminate No. 45 Georgia State and move on to face No. 1-ranked Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where its season ended.

This season, Syracuse (7-0, 1-0 ACC) moved to 7-0, once again defeating Boston College (7-2, 0-1 ACC); however this time it was much closer than 2016. For the first time all season, Syracuse lost in the opening doubles round. It was clear from the jump that ACC play would not be as smooth sailing as nonconference play, as Syracuse narrowly defeated Boston College by one point, 4-3.

The Eagles almost swept through the doubles round, winning the first two matches. Shiori Ito and Zeynep Erman fell 6-2 to BC’s Marice Aguiar and Laura Lopez in No. 1 doubles. The Orange lost again in No. 2 doubles as Sophia Edwards and Hailey Wilcox beat the newly reunited pair of Miyuka Kimoto and Polina Kozyreva, 5-7.

However, Syracuse dodged the doubles sweep as Ines Fonte and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya won 6-4 over Muskan Mahajan and Seren Agar. This win would be the catalyst for an Orange comeback in singles.

Head coach Younes Limam swapped Erman for Kimoto at the top of the singles ladder this week. Erman was competitive, but still lost to Aguiar 2-1 after winning the second set to force a third. The move would not work out for Kimoto, as Lopez swept her 2-0.

The depth of the Orange stepped up again. In No. 3 singles, Kanapatskaya dominated Edwards 2-0, winning both of the two sets 6-2. The dominance continued in the No. 4 singles — Kozyreva won her seventh singles match in a row as she defeated Agar easily 2-0 by a combined set score of 12-4.

The final two singles matches both went to the Orange as well. Ito would dominate Mahajan just like Kozyreva and Kanapatskaya, all winning by a score of 2-0. In the No. 6 singles match, Fonte pulled out the singles point for the Orange and sealed the victory for Syracuse.

Fonte started badly, falling 6-0 in the first set to Natalie Eordekian, who didn’t play in the doubles. She would rebound in the second set, winning in the second set 6-4 and forcing a third set. The momentum continued into the final set, as Fonte would go on to win 6-2 to seal the deal for the Orange.

The Orange pulled out a very close win against a good Boston College team. They return to Drumlins Country Club for a five-match home stand, starting when Florida State comes to play Syracuse on Friday, Feb. 24th.

Published on February 19, 2023 at 4:51 pm