Cardinals Squeeze Orange 4-3

Friday, February 19

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Syracuse

Rhea Verma hits the ball during the match against Ball State on January 24, 2020.

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

February 19, 2021 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

Louisville wins ACC opener

By: Nathaniel Jarrett

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville women's tennis team remained undefeated at home with a 4-3 match win over Syracuse Friday afternoon. The Cardinals (4-2,1-0 ACC) secured the doubles point and held off a late Orange (2-3,1-1 ACC) push, taking three of the six singles courts to earn the victory.

Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova started the afternoon with a 6-1 second line win over Syracuse's Guzal Yusupova and Sofya Trescheva. The doubles point was clinched for the sixth straight time this season when Cardinals' Andrea Di Palma and Rhea Verma handled the top Syracuse duo of Natalie Novotna and Miranda Ramirez 6-2. The remaining court went unfinished with Louisville's Chelsea Sawyer and Dina Chaika leading Ines Fonte and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya 5-4.

"I emphasize to the team that we have to learn from everything we do, every match, every experience we have, in order to learn and make us better. I am really proud of our girls because we have been through a tight match like today in those earlier situations, but we learned from it and was able to pull out the win today" It was a big win for this team", head coach Mark Beckham said.

Chelsea Sawyer increased Louisville's lead with a decisive 6-1, 6-0 win on singles court four, followed by Andrea Di Palma's two set sweep of No.81 ranked Guzal Yusupova. The Orange responded to the early deficit by winning three straight points, first on court three where Natalie Novotna defeated Raven Neely 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 before No.121-ranked Viktoriya Kanapatskaya and Polina Kozyreva stormed back to win on one and six. With the match tied at three, Rhea Verma won two straight sets after an initial tiebreaker to outlast Ines Forte 6-7, 6-1, and 6-2 and secure the match win for the Cardinals.

Louisville hosts Boston College Sunday morning at 11 p.m. before hitting the road for four-straight matches from Feb. 26-Mar. 6.

Tennis Match Results
Syracuse vs Louisville
Feb 19, 2021 at Louisville, Ky.
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Louisville 4, Syracuse 3
Singles competition
1. #121 V. Kanapatskaya (SU) def. Nikolina Jovic (LOU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. Andrea Di Palma (LOU) def. #81 Guzal Yusupova (SU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Natalie Novotna (SU) def. Raven Neely (LOU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Chelsea Sawyer (LOU) def. Miranda Ramirez (SU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Rhea Verma (LOU) def. Ines Fonte (SU) 6-7, 6-1, 6-2
6. Polina Kozyreva (SU) def. Tatiana Simova (LOU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Rhea Verma/Andrea Di Palma (LOU) def. Natalie Novotna/Miranda Ramirez (SU) 6-2
2. Raven Neely/Tatiana Simova (LOU) def. Guzal Yusupova/Sofya Treshcheva (SU) 6-0
3. Chelsea Sawyer/Dina Chaika (LOU) vs. Ines Fonte/V. Kanapatskaya (SU) 5-4, unfinished
Match Notes:
Syracuse 2-2
Louisville 3-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (4,2,3,1,6,5)
T-3:10