Syracuse Storms Back to Upset No. 11 Georgia Tech

ATLANTA – Syracuse (5-8, 4-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) upset No. 11 Georgia Tech (12-9, 5-5 ACC) 4-3 down in Atlanta to snap its five-dual losing streak.

Early on, things were looking bleak for the Orange. Natalie Novotna and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya fell 6-1 to Mahak Jain and Rose Garcia Gross to put the Yellow Jackets up early.

The doubles point was then clinched after Polina Kozyreva and Sofya Treshcheva also fell 3-6 to GT’s best pairing of Gia Cohen and Ava Hrastar. Kozyreva and Trescheva continue to be one of SU’s worst pairing, falling to 4-9 in the past two seasons as well as 0-5 in ACC play.

However, Syracuse got the tilt back into its favor in singles play starting with Miranda Ramirez. The American took care of Gia Cohen in straight sets, winning 6-4, 7-5 in the No. 3 singles. With a 1-3 matchup coming into today, Ramirez was certainly not the favorite in this one, however she pulled out a mini upset of her own as the ITA rankings put Gia Cohen in the top-100 players in the country

The win was followed by Natalie Novotna losing 2-6, 3-6 to Carol Lee in the No. 4 singles and Guzal Yusupova taking down Ava Hrastar 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles.

The biggest victory of the day came when Viktoriya Kanapatskaya defeated #13 Victoria Flores 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to give the Orange the fuel they needed to secure the win. As the 6th match finished in a 3-3 dual, Kanapatskaya led SU to clinch the dual

Singles were rounded out by Polina Kozyreva who took care of business in the No. 6 singles, defeating Rosie Garcia Gross 7(7)-6(2), 6-3.

It’s the high-ranked opponent SU has defeated since No. 9 Michigan back in 2019. Nevertheless, this could be the start of a season turnaround for the Orange. Next up for Syracuse is Clemson, Sunday at 12 p.m.

ybonsu@citrustv.net | @yawbonsu27