No. 32 Syracuse defeats Virginia Tech, 6-1, in 1st home match in nearly a month
Corey Henry | Staff Photographer
No. 42 Gabriela Knutson won her singles match in a three set super tiebreak.
Syracuse has struggled at times against ACC opponents this year with losses to then-unranked Boston College and then-No. 35 Georgia Tech. In both matchups, Syracuse was the favorite, and against BC, the Orange were ranked a program-record No. 10 in the nation.
But against BC and GT, the Orange dropped the doubles point and Gabriela Knutson lost at first singles. On Friday, No. 32 Syracuse (10-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) reached .500 in conference play again with a dominating 6-1 win against Virginia Tech, (7-8, 1-5), as SU won both the doubles point and first singles. The Orange remained in control of the match from the start, clinching a victory in just over two hours at Drumlins Country Club.
Coming off a four-match roadtrip, Syracuse started its first contest at home in nearly a month by sweeping doubles. The No. 70 doubles pairing of Knutson and Miranda Ramirez, who are unbeaten in their last eight matches, edged out a tight win in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-2). The pairings of Sofya Golubovskaya and Sonya Treshcheva and Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova both won their matches, 6-4.
No. 77 Ramirez quickly made it 2-0 for SU with a 6-1, 6-2 win at third singles. She spent four matches at the No. 2 slot to fill in for an injured Golubovskaya, going 3-1 in the span. Since moving back to third, she hasn’t lost.
Libi Mesh was next to finish. Even with Treshcheva back from injury, Limam played the more experienced Mesh at sixth singles. She took the first set, 6-1, but played a much closer second frame. At 4-4, she held serve at deuce and finished the set in the next game with a break, winning 6-4. Yusupova clinched soon after, taking her match at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-3.
The other matches were allowed to finish, and Golubovskaya and No. 42 Knutson both won their singles matches in a third set super tiebreaker. Knutson bounced back from losing her previous two contests, both times falling in the third set after battling back from a set down. Virginia Tech earned its sole point as Samantha Gillas handed Hegab her first loss since Feb. 10.
Syracuse next plays on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Wake Forest, which is the Orange’s last away contest before returning home for five-straight matches.
Published on March 15, 2019 at 6:43 pm
Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder
