No. 16 Syracuse Tennis Falls 4-2 to No. 15 Virginia in First Loss of Season

By Samuel Reis | @SamuelReisTV

Citrus TV Tennis Beat Reporter

For the first time this season, Syracuse (9-1, 3-1 ACC) stumbled. In a 4-2 loss to Virginia (8-3, 2-1 ACC), a failure to overcome a sluggish start and inability to win decisive points proved costly. After the match, Head Coach Younes Limam gave plenty of credit to the opponent and highlighted what his team could learn from the defeat.

“[I’m] very proud of the effort and the attitude of the team. I think we battled, we showed a lot of resilience and a lot of fight. That is all you can ask for, so credit to Virginia. As you guys know, it is never easy to close a match, to finish a match. We got a little bit unlucky on a few points here and there but I would have loved to get this one here [Fonte’s match] and go to three all in that other match [Erman’s match]. That could have changed things, but you can’t sit here and talk about “could have, should have.” I think we have to learn from it and I think we have to keep our spirit and just come back strong tomorrow,” said Limam.

With just two singles matches remaining on court, Syracuse’s comeback effort looked promising. However, Julia Adams overcame a 5-2 deficit to take the second set over Zeynep Erman and Melodie Collard defeated Ines Fonte in the third set. Next up, SU takes a break from the ACC gauntlet. After their first loss of the season, the Orange welcome Coppin St. tomorrow at 11 a.m.