Polina Kozyreva’s singles, doubles victories lead SU to 4-0 win over UMass

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For over an hour in Syracuse’s matchup versus Massachusetts Sunday morning, the top doubles tandem of Ines Fonte and Polina Kozyreva battled back and forth with Danielle Hack and Thamonpan Jonglertrakul. In a contest that seemed to never end, the Orange eventually came out on top.

With the doubles win as well as finishing on top in her singles matchup, Kozyreva was responsible for two of SU’s team points. Syracuse (6-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated UMass (4-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) 4-0 in a dominant win just a day after a shaky performance against Boston College.

The match involving Kozyreva and Fonte taking on UMass’ Jonglertrakul and Hack quickly became the afternoon’s main attraction. From the beginning, the match was tightly contested. A 2-0 lead by the Minutemen was soon erased as SU tied things up. Every move from Fonte was countered by Hack, and Kozyreva’s powerful serves were consistently parried by Jonglertrakul. As UMass took a 3-2 lead, Fonte and Kozyreva went to work.

In the ensuing games, the duo stormed back to take a 4-3 lead as the other doubles matches wrapped up. The schools split the other two matches, leaving the doubles point in Fonte and Kozyreva’s hands.

The Minutemen took a 5-4 lead, putting the match within one. Though, Syracuse had other plans. The Orange tied things up at 5-5, sending the match into a tiebreaker scenario.

As UMass took a 6-5 lead, Fonte and Kozyreva’s backs were once again against the wall. A double fault by Fonte to start the pivotal set did not make things any easier. Still the two SU players battled back to tie the set 6-6.

Players from both SU and UMass had stopped warming up for their singles matches and began to simply watch what was unfolding. The two teams broke out in chants, cheering on their respective teammates during the back-and-forth affair.

A mistake from Hack looked to give Syracuse the lead to begin the pivotal final game. But as Kozyreva charged the net to put SU up, the ball bounced off her racket and hit the net. A Syracuse response was met by a UMass rally and point. With Kozyreva up to serve, Syracuse needed just one point to secure doubles victory. Kozyreva unleashed her serve, and soon after Jonglertrakul could not get the ball over the net, giving the Orange a 7-6 victory.

“They enjoyed being in that moment,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “When things are that close, you never know which way it’s gonna go… you win the doubles – that’s great.”

The hour-long contest looked to take a toll on Fonte and Kozyreva, but that notion was quickly disproven. Finding herself in the No. 5 spot, Fonte made quick work of Campino, winning in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.

Kozyreva, however, found herself in a tougher matchup. Facing Ella Faessler in the No. 2 role, the grad student jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Faessler bounced back to make it 5-4. After regaining her composure, Kozyreva took the first set 6-4.

After going up 4-1, Kozyreva forfeited the next two games. But she found her footing and won the final two games, securing a 4-0 victory for SU.

Kozyreva’s big day helped SU to its sixth win of the young season. Following the win, Limam praised her performance after a grueling doubles match.

“Doubles can take a lot from you, physically and also emotionally,” he said. “The energy was really good.”