During warmups, freshmen Polina Kozyreva and Kim Hansen sang Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” as they grabbed granola bars from their tennis bags and headed towards their respective courts.

Before Syracuse’s (4-0) match against previously undefeated Boston University (3-1), the freshmen seemed relaxed. On court three, senior Guzal Yusupova threw her head back in exasperation after repeatedly missing warm up shots. On a day when the team leaders struggled, the freshmen stepped up. Yusupova lost in singles 6-1, 6-3, but Hansen, Kozyreva and Zeynep Erman all won their matches. The freshmen stayed perfect in singles play on the season. In doubles, which has been a challenge for the freshmen so far, a partner switch led to two easy victories.

“I think they show a lot of passion and fight and perseverance,” head coach Younes Limam said of the freshmen after SU’s 6-1 win. “They put us on the scoreboard pretty quickly and that’s really important to a match.”

The new partnership of Kozyreva, a first-year player from Russia, and sophomore Sonya Treshcheva defeated the Terriers, 6-3, after falling behind early. The new duo took some time to adjust. BU hit a ball down the middle of the court with neither player making a move. After a ball fell and bounced towards the wall, the pair stood at the net staring at each other, and quickly regrouped.

First, Kozyreva hit a second serve down the midline, an ace that cut BU’s lead to 2-1. The SU pair went on to win four straight games before finishing their opponents off and sealing the doubles point.

Kozyreva said it’s easier to play with Treshcheva because they are both Russian, and can speak their native language on the court. With her former partner, Erman, a fellow freshmen from Turkey, Kozyreva struggled because she has to think of how to translate what she wants to say, she said.

While the senior doubles team of Miranda Ramirez and Yusupova struggled, the younger players shined. Before Kozyreva and Treshcheva won 6-3, Hansen and Erman defeated their opponents 6-1.

Ramirez and Yusupova eventually won their doubles match 7-5. But their freshmen teammates winning early took pressure off of Ramirez and Yusupova to win the doubles point.

“Instead of being like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to win this match in order to get the point,’” Ramirez said. “It’s okay, we’re good.”

After securing the doubles point, Kozyreva defeated Lily Burchell of BU 6-1 in the first set. Too often, Burchell was forced to run sideline to sideline chasing shots as Kozyreva moved her around the court.

“She’s better than I am,” Burchell said to her teammates after losing the first set.

Before Burchell could take a sip out of her bottle, Kozyreva was already walking to her side of the court. By the time Burchell moved to stand up from the bench, Kozyreva was in form to serve.

“My way of playing tennis, I don’t like sitting and waiting,” said Kozyreva. “I just like to play fast.”

Eventually, Kozyreva won 6-1, 6-2, but not before fellow freshmen Erman defeated Boston University’s Katya Martens, 6-0, 6-2. Seconds later, the third freshman, Hansen, won her match 6-3, 6-0 to clinch victory for the Orange.

“All three of them (the freshmen) just completely take care of business,” said assistant coach Jennifer Meredith. “They’re just getting better every day.”

Published on February 2, 2020 at 10:16 pm

Contact Thomas: tgshults@syr.edu | @ThomasShults_