Nearly two months ago, Syracuse earned a berth to the ITA National Indoor Championship with back-to-back wins against then-No. 9 Michigan and Purdue. It quantified what SU head coach Younes Limam said before the season in regards to the Orange’s added depth. The Orange added transfer Guzal Yusupova and recruited freshman Sonya Treshcheva to enroll at SU from Russia, and they were earning key wins in both doubles and singles early in the season. But that hasn’t lasted.

No. 32 Syracuse (10-6, 3-4 ACC) has played an up-and-down season and remains winless against a ranked opponent since its early 4-0 record. On Sunday, another opportunity arose against No. 15 Wake Forest (14-3, 5-1) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Orange’s top slots stepped up in singles to try and tried to spark a comeback, but their depth, the area Limam said was a positive of the squad earlier this season, was winless in a 5-2 loss.

When the Orange came back from Oxford, Mississippi on Jan. 27 with two victories, it followed with its highest ITA ranking in program history: No. 10. Early in the season, the Orange were dominating singles play. But two Atlantic Coast Conference matches the following week showed them the reality of the ACC gauntlet. Losses to then-No. 19 Virginia and then-unranked Boston College, both 4-3.

Sofya Golubovskaya and Treshcheva cruised to a 6-2 win at second doubles, which was futile as both first doubles and third doubles lost in tiebreakers. But No. 42 Gabriela Knutson and No. 77 Miranda Ramirez soon erased the Demon Deacons lead with straight sets wins at first and second singles — Knutson defeated No. 46 Emma Davis, 6-2, 6-4, and Ramirez beat unranked Anna Ulyashchenko, 6-4, 6-3. 

After dropping the doubles point, Syracuse was two points away from clinching their second ranked win of the year. At third singles, Sofya Golubovskaya took the first set, winning six of seven games, and both Yusupova and Dina Hegab battled back from dropping their first frames to force a deciding third set. At sixth singles, Libi Mesh struggled and was the only Orange player to fall in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).  

Golubovskaya couldn’t take advantage of her first set advantage, losing 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Wake Forest regained control, leading the match 3-2. Syracuse was now reliant on two comeback wins, and Hegab, who’s clinched multiple matches this year, was pegged to finish next. This time, it was WFU’s Anna Brylan that closed out the dual with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win that earned the Demon Deacons a win. Saby Nihalani’s victory over Yusupova soon to follow pushed the score to 5-2.

Syracuse returns home to play No. 22 Florida State next Sunday at 11 a.m. in Drumlins Country Club.

Published on March 17, 2019 at 2:43 pm

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