Syracuse Tennis Knocks Off No. 8 NC State

Friday, March 15

Syracuse, N.Y.

3 p.m.

Syracuse University

NC State

3/15/2024 7:40:00 PM | Tennis

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After trailing 3-0, the Orange stormed back to win the final four singles matches and secure a 4-3 victory against No. 8 NC State (13-4, 3-1 ACC), the first program win versus a top 10 team since 2019. Syracuse (9-3, 3-3) knocked off four NC State players who were ranked within the top 100 on the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings for singles, including No. 119 Miyuka Kimoto defeating No. 3 Amelia Rajecki.

The Orange were down three points to none before Polina Kozyreva put 'Cuse on the board by defeating No. 82 Sophie Abrams in the number four spot, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Kimoto took down third-ranked Rajecki in the number one spot. Both sets were back-and-forth battles as each were even at 6-6 before going to tiebreakers. Kimoto outlasted her opponent, 7-4, in each tiebreaker to stand victorious.

Anastasia Sysoeva dropped the first set to No. 34 Anna Zyryanova, 6-2, but stayed resilient and powered to a 6-4 win in the second set. Sysoeva trailed 4-0 in the third set before winning six-straight games to take the set and match, 6-4. Her win evened the overall match score to 3-3. Emilie Elde claimed the winning point for the Orange in a thrilling three-set victory against No. 37 Abigail Rencheli in the number two spot. After losing the first set, 6-4, Elde came back to win the second set with a 7-1 tiebreaker before closing out the win in the third set, 6-4.

The Orange conceded the doubles point to the Wolfpack. Abrams and Zyryanova beat the duo of Ines Fonte and Kozyreva in the number two spot, 6-0. The number three doubles spot was next to finish as Gabriella Broadfoot and Rencheli defeated Emilie Elde and Shiori Ito, 6-3. The pairing of Viktoriya Kanapatskaya and Kimoto were leading 5-2 in their match against the 10^th-ranked duo of Rejecki and Maddy Zampardo in the number one spot before the match was abandoned and the squads moved onto the singles event.

The number five and six spots in the singles event went the Wolfpack's way. Zampardo bested Ito in the number six spot, 6-4, 6-3, and was the first completed match in singles action. The number five spot followed as Fonte dropped her match to Gina Dittmann, 6-4, 6-1.

Syracuse returns to action on Sunday, March 17, at 11 a.m. to take on Georgia Tech in Drumlin's Country Club. Fans can come to Drumlin's to cheer on the Orange and get some free pizza slices!

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