After jumping out to an early lead Saturday, Syracuse couldn’t finish the job it started and lost its first of two weekend road tests.

The Orange (7-10, 2-9 Atlantic Coast) won the doubles point and looked in control during singles play before falling 4-3 to Wake Forest (13-11, 3-9) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The doubles tandem of Amanda Rodgers and Rhiann Newborn made quick work of Andrea Retolaza and Xue Zhang, winning 8-3. Breanna Bachini and Nicole Mitchell then won their match in a tiebreaker after previously falling behind 7-5, clinching the doubles point for SU.

Syracuse’s Valeria Salazar was the first Syracuse player to win a singles match. She disposed of Zhang, 6-4, 6-2, at second singles.

At third singles, Newborn also won for the Orange, beating Samantha Asch in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

Syracuse’s fourth through sixth singles players, however, were not as fortunate. Bachini lost to Luisa Fernandez at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 7-5. Komal Safdar lost a competitive match at fifth singles, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to Karen Forman. At sixth singles, Mitchell won only one game in a straight-set loss to Courtney Meredith.

With the match tied at 3-3, Syracuse’s fate for the day rested on the shoulders of Rodgers, SU’s No. 1 singles player. And for a moment, it looked like she might send the Orange off a winner.

After splitting the first two sets, Rodgers held a 4-2 and 5-4 lead in the third set against Kimmy Guerin. But she ultimately lost it in a tiebreaker and thus dropped the match, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Syracuse still has a chance to salvage the road trip and will seek its third ACC victory when it meets Virginia Tech (13-7, 4-6) on Sunday at 10 a.m. in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Published on April 11, 2015 at 5:37 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu