Syracuse Falls to Notre Dame 4-1, Season Effectively Over: A Year in Review
Josh Richardson | @joshrichy_04
Last year, Syracuse Tennis finished its season 11-10. After a 9-0 start, the Orange dropped 10 of its last 12, including a 4-0 sweep by Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Tournament. This year, it was almost identical. With its 4-1 loss to Notre Dame in Round 2 on Thursday, SU ends the season 10-11. While the record may be a game worse, it was clear and obvious that this year’s team was better and more complete than 2023. Let’s take a look at the season: January – April.
Out With The Old and In With The New
After losing senior Zeynep Erman to Cincinnati, head coach Younes Limam replaced her with three quality transfers and newcomers: Emilie Elde, Constance Levivier, and Anastasia Sysoeva. Elde made her presence known the loudest. The sophomore was the closer and clutch player for the Orange. Elde won dual-winning singles matches against Clemson (4-3) and then No. 8 NC State (4-3). Sysoeva was nails in singles as well. The transfer from Florida started her SU career 5-0.
Home Sweet Home
Syracuse finished the season 10-3 at Drumlins Country Club. Playing in front of their home crowd has kept the energy up for the Orange all season. Notable wins at home this season included Clemson and NC State, but also Boston College (5-2) and Louisville (7-0).
Road Trip
Unfortunately, you can do the math. A 10-11 season going 10-3 at home meant that SU went 0-7 in the regular season in opponent buildings. Some of which weren’t really that competitive. Syracuse played one out-of-conference opponent in Columbia and fell 5-2. The road trip was down to North Carolina, where the Orange lost to Duke 6-1 and UNC 7-0 in a three-day span. The final four road duals all came in a row. SU traveled to Virginia first to face UVA and VT, and then the following weekend, went down to Florida and battled FSU and Miami. Ultimately, shortcomings away from CNY proved to be the difference in Syracuse’s season, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some fun along the way.
The Best There Is
In 2021, Viktoriya Kanapatskaya was named an NCAA All-American for singles. This season, if anyone is to take that honor, it’s junior Miyuka Kimoto. The all-star singles player for Syracuse strung together three straight singles matches taking down the 3rd, 25th, and 28th best players in the country. Kimoto ended the season as the 48th ranked singles player in the nation.
Overall
The season didn’t end as strongly for Syracuse as they may have hoped. SU now looks to replace the three seniors they will lose for next season. Viktoriya Kanapatskaya, Polina Kozyreva, and Ines Fonte have all reached the end of their respective Orange careers. However, for head coach Younes Limam’s squad, it’s only up from here over at Drumlins.
