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Sofya Treshcheva and Shiori Ito had just allowed Notre Dame’s Yashna Yellayi and Julia Andreach to cut the match’s deficit to 3-2. The duo entered the match with a 6-3 doubles record together, and they controlled the match from the start. During the fourth game as the duo led 2-1, Treshcheva hit a powerful return, which Notre Dame returned back to Treshcheva, setting up a similar forehand shot to earn Syracuse a point.

But after losing the fifth game of the match, Treshcheva reached over in immense pain. Head coach Younes Limam signaled for the team trainer to attend to Treshcheva. After 10 minutes, Treshcheva walked back on the court and did so with a lower body injury, something that has hindered her play throughout the season.

Still, Treshcheva was able to help secure Syracuse’s (8-9, 2-8 Atlantic Coast) doubles point, though it ultimately fell 4-3 to Notre Dame (11-8, 4-5 ACC).

During the second match of the season against Brown, Treshcheva had an underlying right shoulder injury, which is her dominant arm. Despite the pain, Treshcheva initially continued to play through her singles set. And although she won the first set 7-5, she forfeited afterwards since SU had already clinched the overall match win. Treshcheva also sat out her singles match on Friday in SU’s 4-3 win over Louisville. The forfeit was also due to injury, and Treshcheva trailed her opponent 0-5 after the first set.

“She will do anything and everything for her team,” Limam said. “She barely could walk and she still stayed in it.

On Sunday, Limam noticed Treshcheva’s limited movement on the court, and strategically moved Treshcheva closer to the net, as Ito moved back near the baseline and played on the weaker side of the net.

The strategy took a while to kick in, since Ito had to take up some of the offensive baggage to offset Treshcheva’s limited movement. At one point, during their sixth game of the set after Treshcheva’s extended injury break, Ito hustled from left to right and hit five consecutive shots back and forth with Notre Dame.

Treshcheva, now playing close to the net, saw the ball coming her way and raised her racket up to return the favor, only to give the Fighting Irish the point after the ball hit the top of her racket. Notre Dame’s Yellayi and Andreach took advantage of Treshcheva’s injury and served precise shots directly down the line, or directly at the SU duo.

And with the Fighting Irish now winning their third consecutive game to take a 4-3 lead Treshcheva could barely lift her leg up for momentum on her serves. But with the duo trailing 15-40, Treshcheva managed a powerful shot that ultimately allowed SU to rally back to receive the point, tying the match 4-4.

Ito scored most of the duo’s points in the ninth game, including multiple hard shots on their game point. Notre Dame fired a shot back that went out of bounds, and Treshcheva attempted to run for the ball despite her injury.

The win gave them a 5-4 lead and with the tenth game of the set in action — the game-point set — multiple shots were fired back-and-forth between Ito and the Irish opponents.

Yet the ball came Treshcheva’s way near the net as she hit the ball over the net to the right side. After one soft bounce, the ball skipped away from the Fighting Irish, and the SU duo won the match 6-4.

“She gave everything she could,” Limam said. “From day one, I’ve always said she’s somebody who cares so much about the team.”

Published on April 3, 2022 at 8:07 pm

Contact Irie: irharris@syr.edu