Toward the beginning of her doubles match, Kim Hansen bounced the ball and rocketed a serve from the right side. She exchanged rallies with Boston’s Emily Kim and Shelly Yaloz before a raised backhand from partner Zeynep Erman landed into a service-area opening.

It was the first time Hansen and Erman had played together for the Orange this season. Erman and her former partner, Polina Kozyreva, lost last Sunday against Cornell, while Hansen and Sonya Treshcheva also dropped their doubles match. Against Boston, new doubles pairings injected life into a Syracuse group that was coming off its first lost doubles point of the season.

The Orange (4-0) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against Boston University en route to a 6-1 win over the Terriers on Sunday. This was the first time ITA’s No. 48-ranked duo, Hansen and Treshcheva weren’t together. But the switches worked. Hansen and Erman won 6-1, while Treshcheva clinched the doubles point with Polina Kozyreva shortly after. After the matches, SU head coach Younes Limam didn’t confirm that these would be the pairings going forward.

“I thought we played with a lot more energy than we played with last weekend,” said Limam.

On court three, Hansen and Erman complemented one another with strong serves and soft taps. Hansen fired aces onto Boston’s court, but when the Terriers initiated rallies, Erman tapped finishers just over the net. 

This playing style would also work when the players’ positions switched. Hansen’s net play helped blast shots into her opponent’s court for winners while Erman’s strong backhand allowed her to pick up balls that slid by Hansen. After a diagonal shot split BU’s first doubles pairing, Erman shouted “come on” and the pairing extended to 4-1.

“It’s hard to predict quite honestly. The good news is we can mix things up, we have a lot of variety, we have players that can play from the back and players who can have good hands at the net,” said Limam. “We need to be adjustable and adaptable to everything.”