On a television screen beside an about 6-foot tall inflatable Otto the Orange, the score read 1-0 in favor of Syracuse. Both sets of players lined up on court No. 3 before the match, waiting to be announced.

Before the match started, SU was already up because Colorado senior Annabelle Andrinopoulos was sidelined with an injury. The Buffaloes only carried six players on their roster, so they forfeited a singles match. Only two doubles matches would be played, and CU forfeited the third.

“I told them before we went and played that sometimes I’ve seen situations where teams have won matches with four players,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “That’s all you need. You need four points in a dual match, and you can be down two players and just battle and find a way.”

No. 19 Syracuse (5-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) took advantage of the early lead, snapping its four-game losing streak against Colorado (4-4) with a 6-1 win on Friday afternoon at Drumlins Country Club. The Orange started four of their last five dual matches down the first point, the exception being against Pepperdine last weekend when the contest began with singles. SU had also lost five straight doubles points coming into Friday. Guzal Yusupova and Dina Hegab turned that around.

The pair rattled off four-straight games to start their match before Colorado answered. After a Hegab error at deuce made it 4-1, Yusupova slammed the ball back into the net before sitting on the bench for the changeover. Sofya Golubovskaya said Thursday that SU’s doubles struggles stemmed from an inability to close out sets, and Yusupova and Hegab lost after leading 5-2 against Boston College on Feb. 3. The Orange’s second pair broke the trend against Colorado, finishing the set 6-2 and taking the doubles point for Syracuse.

“I think that will give us a huge boost of confidence going into our next doubles point,” Miranda Ramirez said. “Just knowing not only that we won the point, but we also won it at home, which gives us an even stronger boost of confidence.”

Yusupova and Golubovskaya sat out for singles. Limam didn’t give a reason as to why. Sonya Treshcheva was out with an ankle injury, and Masha Tritou and Libi Mesh filled in. Tritou had played doubles with Golubovskaya last weekend at the ITA Women’s National Indoor Championship, and Mesh had played at sixth singles. Both cruised through their first sets in singles on Friday.

Mesh continued the momentum into the second and was the first player to finish, winning 6-0, 6-2. Mesh’s opponent switched to an unorthodox underhand serve during the match, but it played to Mesh’s advantage. She stepped up on her returns, attacking the weaker serve.

“I was just adjusting throughout the match, seeing what works for me, what doesn’t, and finding a way to get the W,” Mesh said.

Tritou slowed after winning the first set 6-2. She lost the second 6-3 and fell behind 3-0 to start the third. The senior couldn’t come back on court No. 1 and eventually lost the third set 6-3. It was CU’s lone point of the afternoon.

At first and second singles, the Orange bounced back to take the match. The Orange’s top singles player, Gabriela Knutson, played Colorado’s Sara Nayar, who typically plays second singles. Nayar was the early aggressor, taking the first set in a tiebreak, 7-3 and jumping to a 4-2 lead in the second frame. It was a wake-up call for Knutson, Limam said. Nayar was putting balls deep in the court, not giving Knutson any opportunities. SU’s star player needed to reset and stick to her game plan.

“After that (first set), she was herself out there and she played to win instead of lose,” Limam said, “and that was the biggest thing for her was to play on her terms and commit to her shots.”

Knutson fought back, winning the match in three sets 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2. Her doubles partner, Ramirez, grabbed the first set 6-4 before falling behind 5-2 in the second. Ramirez said her mindset at that point was, “it doesn’t matter, I can still take this set,” and she played with more fire because of the pressure. She broke her opponent back before going down three match points on her own serve at 4-5. Ramirez defended the first two, earning cheers of “So good, so good,” from the sidelines and making it deuce. Then she won a second serve point to hold and even the score at five games a piece.

The SU junior completed the comeback with a 7-5 second set win, which clinched the win for the Orange.

Hegab was the last to finish on Friday afternoon. All the players shifted to court four to watch her play on court five as her match went to a third set. A super tiebreaker was used, which is a tiebreak that goes to 10 points. Hegab grabbed a couple of mini-breaks before fleshing out her lead at 9-5. She couldn’t capitalize on her first match point, taking the set 10-6 and earning Syracuse’s sixth point.

It was Syracuse’s first win since Jan. 27 and comes before a matchup with Harvard on Sunday at 11 a.m. to close the weekend. It was a “reassurance” to SU before a three-game ACC road trip over the next two weekends.

“It’s a really good thing for us and to just get rid of the losing streak,” Ramirez said. “We hate that.”

Published on February 15, 2019 at 8:10 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder