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Syracuse (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) continued its dominant start to the season cruising past Fordham (0-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10) 7-0. A day after sweeping Army, Syracuse came out strong, winning all nine of its singles and doubles matches and sweeping its opponent for the second straight game.

In the three doubles matches, Syracuse used a different combination than it had the day before against Army.

“It’s early in the season (and) we’re figuring things out,” Syracuse head coach Younes Limam said. “The ACC is very challenging…so we’re trying to see now what combinations will help us win those matchups).”

Even with different pairings across the board, the results for the Orange didn’t change. Shiori Ito and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya defeated Raffaela Alhach and Xiaowei Hu 6-1. Miyuka Kimoto and Anastasia Sysoeva won by the same score versus Franny Shea and Demi Jhaveri. Polina Kozyreva and Ines Fonte had a close match, but prevailed 6-4 against Eleni Fasoula and Camila Baeza to sweep Fordham.

For the second straight day, SU was victorious in all six of its singles matches as well. Ito led the way with a dominant 6-1 and 6-0 effort against Shea. Kozyreva defeated Hu 6-3, 6-3, while Fonte (6-2, 6-2) and Sysoeva (6-4, 6-2) won in straight sets against Anlin Xie and Xintong Zhou respectively.

With the match already decided, Kanapatskaya was forced to play a tiebreaker in place of the usual third set. After splitting the first two sets 6-2, 4-6, Kanapatskaya edged out Fasoula of Fordham, 15-13, to keep Syracuse’s perfect streak alive.

The most compelling matchup of the day was a three-set battle between the teams’ number one ranked players. Kimoto and Alhach went back and forth during their matchup. After dropping the first set, Kimoto regrouped and was able to survive Alhach’s surge, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

“The level of the match was (great),” Limam said. “I was just telling (Kimoto) to stay positive and weather the storm.”

Despite a couple matches being tight affairs, Limam believes the team showed its character, as not every match will be easy.

“(I am) very proud of the team and how we responded today…with our body language and energy… when we got tested,” Limam said. “Today’s matches were a lot more challenging.”

Ito, Fonte, Sysoeva and Kozyreva have yet to lose a single set so far this season. Limam believes their preparation and mindset have been a key to their success.

“They play with a lot of confidence,” Limam said. “They all had a really good fall semester…. (When) they step on the court, they know exactly what they want to do.”

With the first weekend in the books, Limam has a better feel of where the team stands, as they get their first game action of the season under their belts.

“We were super excited just to get going. They were tired of beating up on each other,” Limam said.

Published on January 21, 2024 at 4:50 pm