Tied 15-15 and trailing 5-2 in her doubles match with Miranda Ramirez, Gabriela Knutson lined up a second consecutive lob shot from Amber O’Dell and prepared to fire a winner. When the Cavalier swung her racket up towards the ceiling of Drumlins Country Club, Knutson jumped on the opportunity for an overhand smash.

Except it went straight into the net. Knutson held her right hand in the air and shook it repeatedly. Two points later, Knutson chipped a shot out, and Virginia won the match and doubles point.

Throughout their entire doubles match, Knutson and Ramirez were jammed by Virginia shots. Returns went into nets, bounced into the ground and out of bounds. The same happened for SU’s third pair of Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova. Their losses put Syracuse in a deficit they couldn’t overcome. Against Purdue last Sunday, Syracuse recovered from losing the doubles point, rattling off four victories in singles. Friday, in No. 10 Syracuse’s (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) 4-3 loss to No. 19 Virginia (5-1, 1-0), it was a different story.

“We had our backs against the wall pretty much the whole match,” head coach Younes Limam said.

From the start, Knutson and Ramirez were in a hole they couldn’t overcome. They dropped the first three games of their doubles match, but, at 3-1, they appeared to gain ground back. Ramirez’s serve took a quick hop on O’Dell, and the Cavaliers freshman’s return went into the net. Knutson began her jog to the bench before the ball was engulfed by the net. She nodded her head and cracked a smile.

But they never won another game. On court 1, Yusupova and Hegab struggled to win one game in the 6-1 loss. Trailing 4-1, Hegab double faulted twice, the last coming at break point.

“We were talking after, and we don’t really know what happened in the doubles,” Knutson said.

But a lost doubles point didn’t mean a lost cause. Limam said Syracuse’s depth at singles allows them to overcome that point. In between the singles and doubles matches, assistant coach Shelley George shouted inside the huddle “Right now, let’s go.” Syracuse wasn’t making Virginia work hard and earn its points.

And at the start of singles, their message appeared to resonate. Ramirez cruised to a 6-2 victory in the first set of her singles match against Gullickson. Ramirez used a different pace to counter Chloe Gullickson’s powerful groundstroke, what she called “smart tennis.” The second set was no different, another 6-2 victory.

Next to her, Hegab’s struggles continued. Before the match, Hegab stayed on the courts after Syracuse went into the locker room and continued hitting volleys against the wall. In between rounds, Limam mimicked her backhand shot with her. But a 6-3, 6-0 loss to Sofia Munera ended her undefeated start to the spring season in singles. She had clinched SU’s last three matches, and her loss, along with Sonya Treshcheva’s straight-set loss, wiped out progress Ramirez had made. The deficit from the doubles point remained, and now the Orange needed wins in the remaining three singles matches.

Yusupova pulled SU within one with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against O’Dell, the final forehand winner a powerful shot from the service line. But all eyes were on Knutson and her match with No. 32 Meghan Kelley. A 5-2 Knutson lead in the first set quickly evaporated. Forehands went into the net, and Knutson reminded herself of the proper form. Backhands went out, and she repeatedly slapped her legs. Kelley ratted off the last five games, took the set, and never looked back.

“I just played my game, and I think I’m pretty good, so I was just doing what I do best,” Knutson said. “Unfortunately I didn’t pull out the win, but I was just doing what I do.”

After Knutson lost her match, attention turned to Sofya Golubovskaya on court 4. Many spectators had already filed out, the match already clinched. Up 5-2 in her third set, but at break point, Golubovskaya fired an ace past Vivian Glozman.

No one inside Drumlins said a word. Nothing from any Syracuse players lined up on court 5, nothing from any fan still in the stands. They were still in shock.

Virginia brought the Orange back to earth. Syracuse had defeated then-No. 9 Michigan last Saturday. The next day they knocked off Purdue, who won against then-No. 12 Ole Miss. Syracuse jumped 14 spots in the rankings this week to No. 10, the highest in program history.

When Syracuse jogged out onto the court to “Good Feeling” from Flo Rida on Friday afternoon, emotions were high. Hours later, they were the lowest of the season. If Syracuse had taken the doubles point, either Golubovskaya or Knutson could have been the clincher. Instead, they needed both. When Knutson double faulted and sent a backhand return out during the last two points of her tiebreaker, the first set loss came back to hurt her. And, in their quest to overcome a lost doubles point, it hurt the Orange.

“You know it’s happening, too, and you don’t know what to do about it,” Knutson said.
“But after … you’re like, ‘Well, dammit.’”

Published on February 1, 2019 at 7:29 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew