Gabriela Knutson needed to hold serve, Syracuse on the verge of losing its second straight game. A strong crosscourt backhand from Knutson tied No. 31 Anna Rodgers, but Knutson’s next backhand went into the net. Frustrated, she slapped her leg.

The next point, too far out right. Then, at match point, Rogers smashed a shot right past Knutson, with a loud scream and a large first pump.

The Wolfpack lived up to their billing, quickly collecting the doubles point before winning the first three singles points, ultimately culminating in No. 10 North Carolina State’s (19-3, 9-1 Atlantic Coast) 5-2 victory over No. 28 Syracuse (11-8, 4-6). In two matches against top-10 teams this weekend, the Orange were outscored 10-4 and did not secure a victory.

“I think this weekend is a learning process and we’re going to take the positives from it,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “And we’re gonna watch some of the matches again and just evaluate a little bit more and try to get better from it.”

Corey Henry | Staff Photographer

Two days prior, Syracuse was dropped by No. 2 North Carolina by the same score, 5-2. And like Friday’s loss, No. 71 Knutson and Miranda Ramirez were tasked with competing against another top doubles team — No. 9 Rogers and Alana Smith. At 2-2, the Orange went up 40-15 with an opportunity to break but sent two straight shots out of play before NC State recovered.

When the Wolfpack pairing went up 40-0 trying to break Ramirez, up 5-4, they didn’t falter like SU did before. On the following point, Ramirez’s serve was returned right back at Knutson and her ensuing volley went wide to give the Wolfpack the doubles point.

“They were both definitely really good players, credit to them,” Ramirez said. “They played well. We tried to implement our own game and be aggressive and counteract everything that they were doing, and they were just the better pair.”

To start singles, Sonya Treshcheva was dominated at fifth singles by Bianca Moldovan 6-0, 6-2. Nearing the top of the lineup, Sofya Golubovskaya went down 6-2 in the first set at second singles. But with the second set tied 3-3 and down 40-15, she rattled off three straight points to break No. 70 Smith.

After that, it was all Smith. Midway through the second set, Golubovskaya hit the ball out and muttered something angrily to herself. The ensuing point, Smith’s ball beat Golubovskaya to the right corner to break her, and eventually went on to win 6-2, 6-4 over Golubovskaya.

“I think a lot of it is not to rush, that’s one,” Limam said on coaching Golubovskaya. “And after that is trying to play to your strengths and remember what you do well…she stayed back too far on both serves, maybe move a little bit, move back just making a few adjustments like that.”

Knutson’s two-set loss sealed the victory for the Wolfpack, but Syracuse finally got on the board as No. 90 Ramirez defeated No. 116 Adriana Reami 7-5, 6-2. Guzal Yusupova, in her first singles match since March 17, won 6-2, 7-5. Yusupova had been limited recently due to back soreness but “now everything is better.”

Sunday’s match marked Syracuse fourth straight match against a top-15 team, going 1-3 with a home win over then-No. 15 Florida State in that stretch. But in the stretch, the Orange failed to win a doubles match in any of the four matches.

Earlier this season, Syracuse cracked the top-10 for the first time in program history. But as its ranking has dropped and its losses have piled up, SU hasn’t been able to consistently take advantage of top-ranked teams. Sunday was no exception.

“I think that as we went through these four matches, our opponents got better and better,” Ramirez said. “I think it’s tough to show how much we’ve grown just because our opponents keep on growing. When we take a step, our opponents are taking a step as well.”

Published on March 31, 2019 at 5:30 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu