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No. 9 seed Syracuse (7-10, 5-8 Atlantic Coast) begins ACC Tournament play on Thursday at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. The Orange earned a first-round bye and will face off against No. 8 Wake Forest (10-11, 6-7) at 9 a.m. 

Earlier this season, SU lost 6-1 to the Demon Deacons on the road, with Miranda Ramirez scoring the lone point for the Orange in singles. Viktoriya Kanapatskaya lost in a close match with Carolyn Campana, then the No. 15 singles player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. In doubles, Wake Forest won at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, with the No. 2 match going unfinished. Wake Forest enters Thursday coming off of losses from No. 1 North Carolina and No. 16 Duke.

The Orange last played on Sunday, when they snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over Marshall. In the regular season finale, Syracuse took the doubles point and won five of the six singles matches. 

Head coach Younes Limam changed doubles pairs, swapping the No. 1 and No. 2 slots and alternating the player pairs for the No. 3 slot. In 17 matches this season, SU has secured the doubles point only eight times. Natalie Novotna and Kanapatskaya, who sit at No. 35 in the latest ITA Division I women’s doubles rankings, have played all but one match together, losing five to ACC opponents. Polina Kozyreva and Sofya Trescheva have also played all but one match together. In the No. 3 spot, Limam usually pairs Guzal Yusupova with either Ramirez or Zeynep Erman. 

Kanapatskaya has been consistent in singles, even when playing some of the country’s top players. In ACC matchups, Kanapatskaya is 9-5, with her losses often at the hands of the opponent’s top-ranked singles players. In the latest ITA rankings, Kanapatskaya ranked No. 14, with Wake Forest’s Campana following at No. 15. Kanapatskaya, the former ACC Player of the Week, started the season with a seven-game winning streak, boasting victories against No. 9 Natasha Subhash, of Virginia, and No. 17 Isabella Pfennig, of Miami.

The Orange will need help from more than just Kanapatskaya to beat the Demon Deacons. Yusupova and Novotna have rotated frequently between the No. 2 and No. 3 singles slots this season. Yusupova sits at No. 109 in the latest ITA singles ranking from Wednesday, although she’s 3-12 against ACC opponents. Novotna is 5-8 in conference play. In the first matchup against Wake Forest, both lost in straight sets.

Erman may be a deciding factor for Syracuse on Thursday. After returning to the lineup against North Carolina, the sophomore has won three straight singles matches and has seen time at the No. 3 slot in doubles.

Syracuse will rely on the bottom singles spots as well. Even if Wake Forest takes the doubles point, the Orange can still win the overall if they win at least four of the six singles matches. Limam has been alternating the No. 4, 5 and 6 singles players throughout the season, too.

No. 1 UNC, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 NC State and No. 4 Virginia — all teams that are ahead of Syracuse — were given first-and second-round byes. 

Syracuse won five of its 13 ACC matches this season, with four of those victories over teams that are now seeded lower than the Orange in the tournament. The one higher-seeded victory came over No. 6 Georgia Tech on April 2. Syracuse lost in close matches against No. 5 Duke and No. 4 Virginia, each 4-3. 

“I’ve been very pleased at how much energy we bring in those big matches, so now we have to keep that consistency,” Limam said on April 11.

Should Syracuse upset the Demon Deacons, SU will move on to the third round and play No. 1 seed North Carolina on Friday. The Tar Heels are 13-0 in conference play and 23-0 overall. The Orange lost 6-1 to UNC on April 9, with the only point coming from Erman in the No. 6 singles match. 

The last time Syracuse was in the ACC Tournament was 2019, with the 2020 competition canceled due to COVID-19. In 2019, the No. 9 seed Orange clinched a first-round bye and beat Georgia Tech 4-3 in the second round. In the third round, SU lost 4-0 to North Carolina, who would go on to win the ACC championship for the fourth straight season.

Published on April 20, 2021 at 7:45 pm

Contact Gillian: gwhahn@syr.edu