Spring Break
The Daily OrangeTennis | Syracuse takes pair of 3rd place finishes at Deacon Invitational
By Kelvin Ang
Posted: 10/6/05, 12:58 AM EST Section: Sports
The Syracuse tennis team fell back to Earth last weekend with a lukewarm showing at the Deacon Classic, played at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Orange opened its season by roaring to a victory in four of the six brackets at the Yale Invitational three weeks ago. Facing stiffer competition at its second tournament, however, the team was unable to duplicate those results. Syracuse left Winston-Salem with two third-place finishes under its belt, one of them in the Flight A doubles bracket by its top pairing of Victoria Vaynberg and Catherine "Kasia" Zawadzki.
Of the six teams the Orange faced, two of them - Virginia and Wake Forest - hail from the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the powerhouses of women's tennis. The ACC ended last season with five teams ranked in the nation's top 20, with Wake Forest having missed narrowly at No. 26.
It was Virginia, however, who stole the show last weekend, capturing four of the five brackets played and placing third in the other.
Syracuse coach Mac Gifford stressed the high standard of tennis that was on display at the Classic.
"We were competing against some very, very good teams," Gifford said. "The ACC is traditionally one of the strongest conferences in the country. ... They get some of the best players from the junior ranks and the international scene."
However, the Syracuse players did not appear daunted by the competition they faced. In the Flight A singles bracket, Vaynberg lost in the opening round to the eventual champion, Virginia's Rachel Del Priore. Vaynberg believes her 6-2, 6-2 defeat could have turned out a lot differently.
"It was a difference of two or three points basically," Vaynberg said. "If I had won those two or three points that she had won, I would have won the match. ... She took the match, but she barely escaped by a sliver."
Even with the stiff competition, Vaynberg and Zawadzki continued their run of good doubles play by reaching the Flight A semifinals before falling short against Del Priore and Douglas Wink, who would go on to win the bracket. The Syracuse duo had started off their season by winning the Flight A title at the Yale Invitational.
The Orange opened its season by roaring to a victory in four of the six brackets at the Yale Invitational three weeks ago. Facing stiffer competition at its second tournament, however, the team was unable to duplicate those results. Syracuse left Winston-Salem with two third-place finishes under its belt, one of them in the Flight A doubles bracket by its top pairing of Victoria Vaynberg and Catherine "Kasia" Zawadzki.
Of the six teams the Orange faced, two of them - Virginia and Wake Forest - hail from the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the powerhouses of women's tennis. The ACC ended last season with five teams ranked in the nation's top 20, with Wake Forest having missed narrowly at No. 26.
It was Virginia, however, who stole the show last weekend, capturing four of the five brackets played and placing third in the other.
Syracuse coach Mac Gifford stressed the high standard of tennis that was on display at the Classic.
"We were competing against some very, very good teams," Gifford said. "The ACC is traditionally one of the strongest conferences in the country. ... They get some of the best players from the junior ranks and the international scene."
However, the Syracuse players did not appear daunted by the competition they faced. In the Flight A singles bracket, Vaynberg lost in the opening round to the eventual champion, Virginia's Rachel Del Priore. Vaynberg believes her 6-2, 6-2 defeat could have turned out a lot differently.
"It was a difference of two or three points basically," Vaynberg said. "If I had won those two or three points that she had won, I would have won the match. ... She took the match, but she barely escaped by a sliver."
Even with the stiff competition, Vaynberg and Zawadzki continued their run of good doubles play by reaching the Flight A semifinals before falling short against Del Priore and Douglas Wink, who would go on to win the bracket. The Syracuse duo had started off their season by winning the Flight A title at the Yale Invitational.
