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Viktoriya Kanapatskaya defeated Victoria Flores, the 13th-ranked singles player in the country, to cement Syracuse’s 4-3 win over No. 11 Georgia Tech on Friday.

Down 4-6 in a set-deciding tiebreak, Miranda Ramirez’s forehand serve return sailed far and wide, resulting in a roar from the Georgia Tech crowd. The Yellow Jackets had just secured the doubles point. But, in the singles round, Ramirez defeated Gia Cohen 6-4, 7-5, finishing first and ultimately setting the pace for Syracuse’s comeback.

Syracuse (5-8, 4-6 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 11 Georgia Tech (12-9, 5-5) 4-3 at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex on Friday evening. Ramirez, Guzal Yusupova and Polina Kozyreva picked up wins in singles. Kanapatskaya’s defeat over Flores gave Syracuse its first win in six matches and its first win against a ranked opponent. No. 11 Georgia Tech is the highest-ranked opponent the Orange have defeated since No. 9 Michigan at the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend.

After several rotations early on in the season, the doubles pairings seem to be solidified, with Kozyreva and Treshcheva at No. 1, Kanapatskaya and Natalie Novotna at No. 2, and Ramirez and Yusupova at No. 3.

Kozyreva and Treshcheva traded game-for-game with the Yellow Jackets’ Gia Cohen and Ava Hrastar until the set was tied at 3-3. But simple mistakes at the net prevented Syracuse from picking up another game. Unable to keep up with Georgia Tech, Kozyreva and Treshcheva lost 3-6.

The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles pairs for Syracuse took control of their matches early on, with each pair springing out to 4-0 leads. Kanapatskaya and Novotna were able to finish out their set without much resistance, only dropping one game to defeat Georgia Tech’s Mahak Jain and Rosie Garcia Gross 6-1.

Ramirez and Yusupova dropped four consecutive games to find themselves tied at 4-4. The set came down to a tiebreaker, but Yellow Jackets Carol Lee and Flores came out on top to win 7-4 and steal the doubles point.

Like many times this season, a few points meant all the difference on Friday, and Syracuse fell short in the doubles round once again.

Coach Younes Limam made minor changes to the singles lineup for the match, bumping Ramirez up to No. 3 singles from her usual No. 4 singles spot this season. Novotna shifted down to play at No. 4 singles.

Ramirez proved her worth at No. 3 singles. Despite falling down 0-2 early in her first set, Ramirez came back to win the set 6-4. She claimed the match with straight sets after winning her second set 7-5.

Novotna’s struggles in singles continued in the No. 4 spot, as she lost to Lee in straight sets 2-6, 3-6. This marks Novotna’s fourth straight singles defeat. At No. 5 singles, Treshcheva was defeated by Jain 6-7, 4-6.

Yusupova and Kozyreva also picked up singles victories for the Orange. Yusupova started off hot, finishing her first set without dropping a game. Hrastar fought back to win the second set and force a third, but Yusupova was able to finish the match and ultimately win 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. At No. 6 singles, Kozyreva defeated Gross in straight sets 7-6, 6-3.

The doubles games tied the match 3-3. It was up to Kanapatskaya, Syracuse’s top singles player this season, to win the match for Syracuse and snap the Orange’s five-match losing streak.

With all eyes on her, she did exactly that. After a three-match losing streak, Kanapatskaya defeated Flores 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The Orange have three regular season matches remaining before the ACC Tournament in Rome, Georgia. Syracuse will travel to Clemson on Sunday before returning home to play at Drumlins for its two final matches of the season.

Published on April 2, 2021 at 9:07 pm

Contact Bryan: brbrush@syr.edu