Gabriela Knutson hit a wall. After dominating the first set, 6-2, North Carolina’s No. 5 Makenna Jones rallied back, winning the second set handily. Early in the final frame, Jones swept the first four games. 

One of Knutson’s backhands that went out during that stretch left her particularly frustrated. After the errant swing, she flicked her racket against the curtain behind the court and banged it against her leg. Associate head coach Shelley George told her to start moving her legs more, Knutson said.

The No. 40 singles player in the nation realized she had taken a step back and wasn’t being as aggressive as she should’ve been. It all clicked after, Knutson said, and she went onto win the final six games of the match, defeating Jones, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. But Knutson, a lower ranked singles player, didn’t know how high her opponent was in the rankings until after the match. Although No. 2 UNC (21-1, 9-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated the No. 28 Orange (11-7, 4-5), it stretched Knutson’s singles win streak to four, all against ranked opponents.

“Sometimes when the matches are tight and close, you forget a little bit of that and the nerves sometimes make you a little slower than you usually are,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “So I’m glad to hear that she fixed that and adjusted that and just played her tennis at the end.”

After finally holding serve to make it 4-1 in the third set, Knutson started her rally with a powerful forehand that Jones mishandled and returned out. Jones fought back to make it 30-all, but Knutson returned her swing by rocketing two shots past her — one crosscourt down the left end line and one straight at Jones.

Now only down a break, Knutson was able to hold serve again. She fell behind 30-40, but following a marathon rally, Knutson was able to catch Jones on her heels on the baseline with a backhand chip shot that Jones didn’t attempt to swing at. Knutson finished her off on the next point to rally back to 4-4.

Up 5-4 after holding serve again, Knutson got a 15-0 lead thanks to a Jones double fault. Using the error from UNC’s first singles player, Knutson took three of the next four points. With the match on the line, Jones, who had lost five straight games, double faulted for the second time in six serves, giving Knutson the match win.

It was only after the match that she found out Jones was ranked fifth in the country. Knutson said she makes sure not to know her opponents’ rankings before matches.

“Because I get in my head,” Knutson said why she doesn’t look at rankings. “Say last night, if I had known she was (fifth), I would’ve maybe came on the court a little differently. I would’ve, even though I was fourth (last year) — Why should I be intimidated? — but I just get in my own head.”

Knutson has grown more stringent about this mindset after last semester. After nationals in the fall, she said, she began uncharacteristically looking at her opponents’ rankings, scores and stats. She became nervous and wasn’t enjoying playing as much. It had a negative impact on her game.

“I was thinking too much, ‘Oh, if I beat her I’ll be this rank,’” Knutson said. “No, it doesn’t matter. It just matters how you play on the court that day, if you win for your team. That’s what it comes down to, of course.”

Knutson called it “amazing” when Limam finally reveals her opponents ranking after she wins. It hasn’t been uncommon lately. Dina Hegab said matches like Friday’s first singles contest are why the team is always confident about their chances with Knutson leading the pack.

Limam said he has drilled a similar message about opponents into his teams for awhile now: play the tennis ball, not the player or their ranking, he said. On Sunday, Knutson will likely face one of three NC State ranked players, with Anna Rogers ranking the highest at No. 31.

But when the first ball is served at 11 a.m. at Drumlins, Knutson won’t know it, of course.

Published on March 29, 2019 at 9:11 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu