No. 29 Syracuse Caps Off Road Stretch with a Win in the Sunshine State
By Brad Klein
Tennis Beat Reporter
BOCA RATON, Fla – No. 29 Syracuse (9-5, 2-3 ACC) capped off a four-game road trip with some fun in the sun on Monday, defeating Florida Atlantic (5-6, 0-0 CUSA) 4-1. Head coach Younes Limam and the Orange went 3-1 in their longest road stretch of the season.
All but one of the Orange’s wins this season have begun with success on the doubles court, and today was no exception. The No. 70 duo of Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez validated the ITA’s decision to rank them for the first time this season with a 6-4 victory to kick things off. But it looked like their effort would be for naught.
Sofya Golubovskya and Sonya Trescheva were losing 1-4 in their doubles set, while Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova were on their heels down 2-4. Hegab and Yusupova mounted a huge comeback though, rattling off four-straight games to take the set and clinch the doubles point for SU.
The momentum carried over to the singles matches as well. Sophomore Sofya Golubovskaya dominated for a straight set victory 6-1, 6-1. She had been 1-3 in her last four singles matches due to her recovery from bicep tendinitis. Monday’s win may be the breakthrough she was looking for in her rehab.
Libi Mesh followed Golubovskaya with a straight set victory of her own, winning 6-3, 6-1. Mesh has been a strong replacement for the Orange in place of Sonya Trescheva, who is still recovering from an injury of her own. While Trescheva has played doubles in the past two matches, she has not played singles since February 3. In that time, Mesh has gone 5-3 on the fifth and sixth singles courts, including her win today.
The Owls were only able to scrape one point from the Orange on Monday, and it came on the first singles court. Unranked Martina Kudelova upset No. 42 Gabriela Knutson 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to avoid the clean sweep. However, Guzal Yusupova eventually clinched for Syracuse with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win.
SU heads back to the hill on Friday to resume conference play against Virginia Tech at 2 p.m.
