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Viktoriya Kanapatskaya was shaky out of the gate. She was on the No. 1 doubles court, facing off against Boston College’s best competition, but Kanapatskaya was in her head early on. Paired with Shiori Ito, the duo fell to Marice Aguiar and Tola Glowacka of BC, 6-4. At one point in the match, SU lost four consecutive games.

For the first time all season, Syracuse had to deal with bouncing back after a loss in doubles. SU head coach Younes Limam knows that’s not a recipe for success, and his team needed to respond.

“(Boston College) came in more aggressive than us…We were (too) tentative in doubles,” Limam said. “(I tell) our team that doubles is a sprint while singles is a marathon.”

Yet after a slow start, Kanapatskaya helped her squad get back on track by sweeping her singles match over Glowacka en route to Syracuse’s (5-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 5-2 victory over Boston College (3-3, 0-1 ACC) to begin conference play. The Orange fell in two doubles matches (the third doubles match did not finish) before coming back strong to win five of the afternoon’s six singles matches over the Eagles.

“We had our backs against the wall,” Limam said. “I’m proud of how we (responded) in our singles (matches). We had that mentality of whatever it’s going to take (to win) today.”

Nobody exemplified this more than Kanapatskaya. During her doubles match, she grew frustrated as it went on. Her emotions affected her play, as the senior put too much power behind some of her returns, hitting them well beyond the boundary line. Ito tried to keep her and her partner’s spirits up, but the tandem was not playing up to their capabilities.

Heading into singles, it appeared it was going to be a long day for Syracuse. With not much of an intermission in between matches, Kanapatskaya was forced to have a short memory and just focus on the road ahead.

“I just wanted to start over and not think about doubles,” Kanapatskaya said.

Kanapatskaya came back out a lot more relaxed than she had been previously. Throughout her singles match, she played much more composed and within her abilities. Unlike her match earlier in the day, Kanapatskaya was no longer trying to force the issue and do too much. She was letting the match and her opponent come to her.

Her calmness and focus rewarded her. After getting off to a blazing fast start, the emotions of her opponent, Glowacka, started to boil over. Heading into the second set, Glowacka’s play style was out of control and Kanapatskaya took full advantage to finish off the two-set sweep, 6-0, 6-0. After a frustrating and rocky start to the day, Kanapatskaya did not lose a single game in her match on court two.

“I just wanted to take it one point at a time and be calm and comfortable,” Kanapatskaya said.

Published on February 17, 2024 at 3:57 pm