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At the beginning of the season, SU tennis head coach Younes Limam stressed the need to improve in doubles. With doubles contests starting each match, they often set the tone for the rest of the day. Despite Limam’s wishes, Syracuse has fallen flat in its doubles matches entering Sunday with zero doubles points against an Atlantic Coast Conference foe.

As the Orange prepared for their final regular season match of the season, their luck finally changed. Syracuse (10-10, 4-9 ACC) won 2-of-3 doubles matches and swept Louisville (4-15, 0-10 ACC) 7-0. The strongest showing came from Miyuka Kimoto and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya as the duo cruised to a 6-2 victory over Louisville’s Allie Gretkowski and Lika Peresypkina.

“Not getting any wins for a while was tough,” Limam said. “I’m super proud of how we showed up on the doubles court and we finally saw the results.”

The win wasn’t easy as Louisville earned the first game with a much faster start. Kimoto made mistakes early and appeared tired through the first few games.

Having dominated the last half of her doubles match, Kanapatskaya carried the momentum into her singles showdown against Berta Miret. She was determined to end her final regular season match with a memorable performance. The Belarus native was in cruise control, dominating the first set 6-1 for the early lead.

Miret wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She got off to a much faster start in the second set, forcing Kanapatskaya to dig deep. Tied at 3-3, Kanapatskaya held the advantage in the seventh-game tiebreaker.

She may have had a one-set lead, but the senior didn’t want to play a winner-take-all third set. Kanapatskaya sailed a shot past Miret to win the game and take a 4-3 lead. The end of the match was in her sights. Having delivered a back-breaking point to her opponent, Kanapatskaya was right where she wanted to be. She combined her touch and power to win the final home match of her collegiate career 6-1, 6-3.

“(Kanapatskaya) means so much to our program,” Limam said. “I remember when (she) first got here…I’m super proud to see how much (she has) grown.”

After Syracuse secured its first victory in nearly a month, the Orange next go to the ACC Tournament on April 17.

“A lot of it is confidence,” Limam said. “I’m super happy how they executed their shots and committed to everything.”

Published on April 7, 2024 at 4:27 pm