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Sofya Treshcheva and Polina Kozyreva looked deflated after losing their fourth game of their doubles match, resulting in a two-set deficit to Army’s Paola Bou and Sophie McKenzie. 

Assistant coach Len Lopoo talked to the pair in between games, hoping to pick up his players and get them to regain focus. It worked — as Treshcheva and Kozyreva walked back onto the court, the pair posed determined facial expressions. Then, at the beginning of the seventh game, Kozyreva hustled back and used her powerful forehand to keep the ball inbounds. As Army returned the favor, Treshcheva gave a soft touch to force a double-bounce for the score. “There we go!” Lopoo exclaimed from the sideline. 

From there, the duo took over the entire set, providing powerful backhand serves and soft forehand volleys, trading high-fives after each point and serving the periodic smile. The duo not only won game seven of the set but went on to win the next three, too, taking the No. 1 doubles matchup 6-4. 

“We talked to them earlier this morning about setting the tone, playing with a lot of passion and energy,” head coach Younes Limam said. 

Trescheva and Kozyreva helped Syracuse get off to the start it needed in its season opener against Army. The Orange defeated the Black Knights at home 6-1 after sweeping doubles play and winning five of the six singles matches. 

After posting a 3-0 doubles record in the fall, sophomore Viktoriya Kanapatskaya returned for spring doubles with partner Ines Fonte, matching up against Army’s Julia Kelly and Jenna Sabile. From the jump, the duo asserted their dominance as Kanapatskaya served and Fonte complemented her partner with powerful shots of her own. 

Freshmen Shiori Ito and Miyuka Kimoto made a strong impact in their first career games, winning the first three games of their No. 3 doubles matchup. After trading games back-and-forth with Army’s Elizabeth Gilbert and Paulina Feoli, they walked away with the 6-3 victory to complete the doubles sweep for SU. At one point, Ito moved quickly to keep the ball inbounds, hitting the ball high in the air before a game-clinching backhand shot from Kimoto increased Syracuse’s lead. 

Much of the same dominance seen in the doubles stage was replicated in the singles stage for the Orange. Kozyreva had her opponent, Sabile, moving from side to side to save the ball, only to come short thanks to Kozyreva’s terrific swing. Kozyreva only allowed one loss in 13 games, coming away with the 2-0 set victory.

“She had a clear idea of what style of game she wanted to play today, she played her shots and that’s what she thought about going into today,” Limam said.

Ito and Kimoto stayed hot in their respective singles matchups, coming away with sweeps of their own. Kanapatskaya, the returning singles All-American, consistently converted on shots that helped win the tiebreaker of her first game, and eventually came away with an easy victory in the second. Fonte continued the trend, putting her matchup away 12-7 with a 2-0 sweep on the set. 

Treshcheva’s singles matchup against Gilbert was the last in the session. The first game went back and forth, but after almost 20 minutes, Gilbert won in a tiebreaker. At one point during the second game, Gilbert needed an injury timeout for 10 minutes due to a scratch on her left leg. As the game intensified, Treshcheva served a forehand line-drive shot to take the second game 7-5 and tie the matchup sets. 

Then in the final game Gilbert found success — at one point recording four points in a row — and won 10-6 to give Army its first and only point of the day. But Syracuse’s play throughout the day had ensured that the No. 3 singles matchup wouldn’t dictate the final score, with the Orange opening their season with a convincing 6-1 win at home. 

“I thought everyone did a good job executing the game plan and really committing to it 100%,” Limam said.

Published on January 15, 2022 at 6:31 pm

Contact Irie: irharris@syr.edu