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Tennis

No. 39 Syracuse overcomes lost doubles point to beat No. 44 Clemson, 5-2

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

Syracuse will get a chance to defend its 7-0 record at home against No. 16 Wake Forest on Sunday.

By KJ Edelman

Despite dropping the doubles point to start the match, No. 39 Syracuse (11-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) bounced back with strong singles play to beat No. 44 Clemson (7-7, 1-4), 5-2, at Drumlins Country Club. The Orange’s win marks its seventh victory in its last eight matches.

After losing in first doubles on Tuesday against Florida Atlantic, SU’s No. 17 Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez looked to rebound from last year against Clemson’s No. 60 Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Fernanda Navarro. The two pairs squared off last season with Leduc and Navarro taking the match, 6-0.

Knutson and Ramirez struggled from the start and only took one game during the match in a 1-6 loss. In second singles, Sofya Golubovskaya and Anna Shkudun could not take advantage of an early lead and fell to Clemson’s Ally Miller-Krasilnikov and Tate Schroeder, 2-6. With the doubles point secured for Clemson, the third doubles match featuring SU’s Masha Tritou and Dina Hegab was cut short after they were up 5-4 against Laura Marti and Sydney Riley.

Down a point after the doubles portion, the Orange rallied fast behind a clean sweep from Hegab. Against Clemson’s Daniela Ruiz in sixth singles, Hegab proceeded to take 12-straight games to put Syracuse on the board fast, 6-0, 6-0.

Golubovskaya made light work of Navarro in two sets, 6-2, 6-0, to give the Orange the lead in after her third singles win. On the other side of the courts, Ramirez fought off a first-set tiebreaker in second singles to roll past Schroeder, 7-6, 6-1.



In first singles, Knutson had to face her fourth-straight ranked opponent in as many matches. Coming off her first loss of the season against Florida Atlantic’s No. 6 Aliona Bolsova, No. 11 Knutson held her ground against No. 20 Leduc. After giving up five games in both sets, Knutson responded, 7-5, 7-5, to clinch the match for the Orange.

Libi Mesh fought off a tough second set against Miller-Krasilnikov to give Syracuse its fifth point of the day, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Shkudun gave Clemson its only point in singles when she fell in fourth singles to Riley, 4-6, 6-4, (8-10) in a super tiebreaker.

The Orange will look to extend its perfect, 7-0 home record on Sunday against No. 16 Wake Forest at Drumlins.





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