The score was tied three-apiece. On one side of the courts, the crowd of nearly 50 people at Drumlins Country Club was silent. On the other, players from No. 39 Syracuse and No. 16 Wake Forest were shouting.

The match came down to a third-set tiebreaker between SU’s Miranda Ramirez and WFU’s No. 88 Eliza Omirou. The score was 7-6 in the tiebreak in favor of Omirou. Seven shots into the point, Ramirez floated a ball into the left corner. It missed the line.

Players from Wake Forest ran onto the court and embraced each other. The right side of the Drumlins benches, filled with visiting players and coaches, was euphoric. The left side, which featured coaches, families and SU fans, was in shock after spending nearly three hours waiting for an outcome.

“We all play for that spotlight moment,” Ramirez said, “I want to be the person who clinches the match for the team, the last one of the court, and it was only a matter of a couple of shots.”

After leading Wake Forest three to two, Syracuse (11-3, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) dropped its last two points against WFU (14-4, 3-2) to end its home winning streak of seven. On a back and forth day that came down to the final match, the Demon Deacons emerged victorious.

The Orange began the day looking to rebound on its shaky doubles play of late. Its response to losing the doubles point Friday was not what SU had hoped for.

SU’s No. 17 doubles pairing of Gabriela Knutson and Ramirez dropped their fourth-straight doubles match. The Orange’s Dina Hegab and Masha Tritou dropped the third doubles match to give WFU the doubles point.

Down a team point early, SU’s Hegab evened the score with swift singles play in the sixth slot on the way to a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Sofya Golubovskaya fell behind 1-4 down a break in the first set against Chandler Carter and rallied by taking six of the next seven games and carried it to a 7-5, 6-2 win in third singles. The score evened at two after Anna Shkudun lost to Anna Ulyashchenko.

No. 11 Knutson dominated her first set, 6-0, against No. 36 Emma Davis with strong serves and control with her forehand, but started to struggle in the second set.

“(Davis) started matching me well and got me a little uneasy,” Knutson said, “I knew I had to get as many games as possible because I knew it wouldn’t last.”

After losing the second set and going down 4-5 in the third set, Knutson spoke with associate head coach Shelley George. George told her to “lock in and assert her dominance,” and then Knutson rattled off eight-straight games. Knutson clinched in the tiebreak and let out a huge smile.

“I knew if I was going to lose it would be me beating myself instead of her beating me,” Knutson said.

After a loss at fifth singles by Libi Mesh, a Syracuse victory would come down to Ramirez.

Ramirez opened her first set with aggression and intensity, head coach Younes Limam said. Though she was winning the first set, Ramirez wasn’t pleased with some of the calls the umpires were giving her, she said. Up 4-2, the umpire called a ball out of bounds against Ramirez, resulting in volunteer assistant coach Len Lopoo arguing with the umpire. In the second set, Ramirez and Lopoo became infuriated when an officiating correction was made after a game was called.

“I earned those points and I felt like they were taken away from me for no reason,” Ramirez said.

The slow-paced match between Ramirez and Omirou went to a third set. Ramirez was up 4-1 in but gave up five of the next six games to Omirou. Down 6-5, the crowd centered their attention on the match after Mesh lost. Ramirez knew it was all up to her.

“I looked at it as pressure,” Ramirez said, “but as a great moment where my teammates are all watching and supporting me. It’s what I want.”

Up 40-30, Ramirez sliced a ball with her forehand into the left corner to force a third set tiebreaker. Ramirez opened the tiebreak aggressively and led 4-2. After overshooting her target and missing a couple of corners, Ramirez fell behind 7-6. With the crowd silent and match point approaching for a third time in the match, Ramirez knew the end was nearing but didn’t want her match to conclude on a close call, she said.

After the mix of cheering and shock simmered down, SU coaches and players spoke for 30 minutes after the match. Some players, like Hegab, were crying, and others were overcome with emotion.

But as Limam puts it: “We learn something from every loss. We’d rather have those losses now than in April or May.”

Published on March 18, 2018 at 4:41 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman