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Syracuse opened its 2021 season Saturday morning with a 4-0 loss to Ohio State at the 13th annual ITA Kickoff Weekend.

The Orange returned four of six starters from last year’s roster, including Miranda Ramirez, who’s eligible for her fifth season. But Syracuse lost the doubles round 2-1 and was unable to mount a comeback during the singles round, leading to the Orange’s first loss in a spring season-opener since 2017. 

The two additions to the team’s lineup were Natalie Novotna, a graduate student transfer from Virginia Tech, and Viktoryia Kanapatskaya, a freshman from Belarus with a career-high International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranking of No. 24. The two paired up at the No. 1 doubles spot to start Saturday’s match. 

This newly formed pair struggled against Ohio State and lost 6-3, as they were unable to deal with Luna Dormet and Lisa Hofbauer’s dominant net play. Syracuse head coach Younes Limam spent the majority of his time during the doubles round coaching the two, trying to prevent unforced errors and double faults. From the sideline, he encouraged the pair after every point. He continued even when they were down 5-0, clapping for them after every point. The pair went on a three-game streak but still lost. 

Returners Polina Kozyreva and Sofya Treshcheva defeated Kolie Allen and Kathleen Jones 6-1 at the No. 2 doubles spot. Outside of a pair of deuces in the two final games of the set, Kozyreva and Treshcheva didn’t face any real difficulty in closing out the match.

In the No. 3 doubles spot, Ramirez and sophomore Zeynep Erman seemed to have a firm grip on the match, controlling the tempo of rallies early on. They were on the same page early on, touching rackets and conferencing between points. But their momentum dwindled after the pair conceded their 2-0 lead and found themselves down 3-2 after losing three consecutive games. Rallies remained fairly even for the rest of the set, but Ohio State pair Irina Cantos Siemers and Lucia Marzal got the better of Syracuse more often than not, as Ohio State won 6-3. 

Down 2-1 after losing the doubles round, Ramirez and Kozyreva quickly found themselves in a hole at the No. 3 and No. 5 singles spots, respectively. Neither truly established themselves and strung points together. Both matches resulted in convincing wins for Ohio State, with Hofbauer defeating Ramirez 6-0, 6-1, and Dormet defeating Kozyreva 6-1, 6-1.

This left Novotna (No. 1), Kanapatskaya (No. 2), Treshcheva (No. 4) and Erman (No. 6) all tasked with winning their respective matches for Syracuse to come out with a victory — a feat that proved too big.

With the Buckeyes leading 3-0 and only needing one more individual singles match to end the overall match, Treshcheva found herself fighting in a second-set tiebreak to keep Syracuse’s hopes of winning alive. She lost her first set 6-1 to Marzal but was able to regroup and take control of the second set. Treshcheva earned a 5-4 lead, but Marzal went on to win a crucial set point at deuce to make it 5-5 and later force a tiebreak.

Treshcheva came up short in the decisive tiebreak, resulting in the 4-0 loss for the Orange. Novotna, Kanapatskaya and Erman didn’t finish their respective matches. The Orange were also without Guzal Yusupova on Saturday, who returned for a fifth season but did not play today. 

Syracuse will play a consolation match Sunday at 10 a.m. against the loser of the Tennessee-Virginia match.

Published on January 23, 2021 at 3:35 pm

Contact Bryan: brbrush@syr.edu