Orange Continues to Defeat Tigers Across Multiple Sports
By Gill Gross
Syracuse (11-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) holds a five-spot advantage in the ITA rankings over Clemson (7-7, 0-4) and that reigned true on Friday when the No. 39 Orange beat the No. 44 Tigers, 5-2.
No. 11 Gabriela Knutson defeated Marie-Alexandre Leduc. Knutson lost to Leduc last season, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). This time, Leduc showed fight once again. The Clemson junior nearly evened the match at a set a piece serving for it at 5-3, deuce (no-ad scoring). But Knutson played an aggressive point culminating in an overhead winner to save the set point and get back on serve. Knutson then went on to rattle off five consecutive games, winning the match 7-5, 7-5.
Syracuse suffered another defeat at first doubles though. No. 20 Ramirez/Knutson dropped their third straight match in a 6-1 loss to Leduc/Navarro. Golubovskya/Shkudun experienced similar struggles, losing 6-2 to Miller-Krasilnikov/Schroeder. Hegab/Tritou, on the other hand, looked to be in good shape before their match was stopped while the Orange’s third pairing was serving for the set at 5-4.
Clemson led 4-1 after winning the doubes’ point coming into the match, but the Orange dominated singles. Dina Hegab was particularly dominant at sixth singles. She picked up her third shutout victory of the season, a 6-0, 6-0 win over Daniela Ruiz.
Sofya Golubovskya continued her impressive freshman season on Friday. The Russian had no trouble with Fernanda Navarro, winning 6-2, 6-1.
Miranda Ramirez gritted out the first set against Tate Schroeder, but controlled the second set, 7-6, 6-1. Knutson clinched the match for Syracuse shortly thereafter.
With the match in hand, Libi Mesh was successful in padding her stats. Mesh defeated Ally Miller-Krasilnikov, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Anna Shkudun suffered a different result, dropping a her match in a super tie-break, 4-6, 6-4, 8-10.
The Orange will be tested in another ACC matchup on Sunday at Drumlins Country Club. No. 16 Wake Forest (12-4, 1-2) will look to end SU’s undefeated run at Drumlins.
gngross@syr.edu | @Gill_Gross
