Miranda Ramirez couldn’t find a winner. Every time she sent a powerful forehand rally into the corner, Adriana Reami found a way to reach it. As she darted around the court, Reami muscled defensive lobs.

Ramirez had won the first two games in the second set and looked to break Reami’s serve again. It took Ramirez a half-dozen rallies toward the corners before she found the open baseline.

Her forehand winner blazed by Reami and extended the lead that wouldn’t be erased. In No. 28 Syracuse’s (11-8, 4-6 Atlantic Coast) 5-2 loss to No. 10 North Carolina State (19-3, 9-1) on Sunday afternoon, No. 90 Ramirez was a bright spot, winning for the fifth time in seven matches, 7-5, 6-2. After a match Friday against No. 2 North Carolina, when her forehand was off, Ramirez made a slight adjustment in practice the next day. The extra rotation on the forehand allowed her to win against Reami, an old friend and training partner from Miami.

“I went into it with that knowledge of generically how she played, what she liked, what she didn’t like,” Ramirez said. “That benefited me a lot.”

In her match two days prior, Ramirez fired some forehand rallies into the net. Others went long and some forehand volleys were mishit. In the fourth game of her doubles match, partner Gabriela Knutson fired a backhand causing a soft UNC return. Ramirez, primed for a forehand winner on the other side of the court, sent it long.

The next game, when Ramirez needed to hold serve facing a three-game deficit, she fired a crosscourt rally long. Singles didn’t go any better. In her straight-set loss to No. 3 Alexa Graham, Ramirez’s forehand never controlled the pace of the match.

“You can’t control if you win or lose the point,” SU head coach Younes Limam said after Friday’s 5-2 loss to North Carolina, “but you can control how you go about the point.”

In practice yesterday, Ramirez re-watched her match. She said she noticed her right hand’s rotation. She needed just a little more rotation on forehand shots. Holding back was the reason why many had gone into the net or long. With more rotation she could finish her shot by coming down on top of the ball.

In the fourth game of her doubles match against NC State on Sunday, Ramirez took two steps forward and found the right line with her forehand winner. She smashed another the next game. As opposed to Friday’s match, she kept rallies alive against Reami with a controlled forehand.

“Each individual person needs to take care of themselves and know what they need to do differently,” Ramirez said.

Against Reami in singles, Ramirez needed her forehand present. They knew many of each other’s tendencies. When the two were 12 years old, they trained together down in Miami. They’d play with other occasionally in doubles and practice matches.  

When they first started playing each other, Ramirez said she had “the upperhand.” But Reami quickly ascended to a five-star recruit out of high school and is currently No. 113 in the ITA singles rankings. Last year, Reami defeated Ramirez in Raleigh. N.C., 6-0 6-2.

But with Ramirez’s tweak at forehand, she was able to capitalize on points in their latest meeting. She flexed her elbow across her chest from the corners, saving herself from winners yet not giving Reami and lobs to smash back. She had “that mentality of playing every point,” — one Limam has harped on throughout the season.

Ramirez and Reami met at the net with a slight handshake afterward. “’Hi, hope you’re doing well,’” Ramirez told Reami. She didn’t need to say much else. There’s a good chance she’ll she Reami at the ACC championships, Ramirez said.

As most of her Syracuse teammates sauntered dejectedly off the courts after the match, a smile crept across Ramirez’s face at times. After her quick goodbye with Reami, Ramirez had jogged over and watched other matches end. On an afternoon when flaws, both physical and mental, showed in her Syracuse teammates, Ramirez had worked to fix hers.

“I needed to have more rotation on my forehand, and I was able to execute that today,” Ramirez said. “I played much better and I won.”

Published on March 31, 2019 at 5:30 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew