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Shiori Ito, who played in the Syracuse University-Georgia Tech game, had not won a doubles match for the first time in almost a month. Her last win was on Jan. 28 against Cornell University.
Ito finally bounced back by winning doubles and singles matches against Georgia Tech (6-4, 2-0 ACC). Despite Ito’s performance, Syracuse (7-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost 4-3 to GT, their second loss of the season and first against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. suffered. Despite overcoming doubles losses to Boston College and Clemson, the Orange couldn’t shake off an early deficit Sunday.
“On Friday, we lost to the same guy we lost to last year,” Ito said. “I was really disappointed, so I thought I had to win today.”
After a strong start to the season on the singles side, Ito has experienced ups and downs over the past few matches. She performed well against Boston College and the University of Massachusetts, but she also underperformed against Columbia University and Clemson University. It will be another difficult ACC game against Georgia Tech, but Ito is up to her challenge.
In a doubles match with Miyuka Kimoto, Ito defeated Scarlett Nicholson and Given Roach 6-3. The duo won the Orange’s only doubles match of the day.
Kimoto rode the momentum to singles. That was not the case with Ito, who got off to a slow start. Ito fought hard, but had trouble catching up with Mahak Jain, who took the first set 6-4.
“My opponent was hitting more shots than me in the first set,” Ito said. “So I realized I needed to be patient and keep fighting.”
After the first set, Ito had a better understanding of Jayne’s game plan against her. Ito maintained his good form in the second set and won the following set as well.
Early in the deciding set, Ito and Jayne traded points one after the other. In the final stages of the set, Ito took control of the match and won 6-3.
“She made some mistakes and gave me a chance (to get back into the game), which helped me turn the score around,” Ito said.
Despite Ito’s victory, Syracuse was unable to score four points and lost the game.
“I thought we fought and poured our heart out,” SU head coach Younes Rimam said. “We were in a good position (to win the game). We had a lot of (deuce points) so we have to commit in those key moments.”
Published February 25, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.