No. 27 Syracuse (8-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) ventured to Atlanta to extend its four-game win streak. Instead, No. 35 Georgia Tech (5-5, 2-1) didn’t let it happen, defeating Syracuse 4-3.

The match started outdoors for doubles play until it started raining. As the matches were disrupted, Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez were down 4-1 and Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova trailed 3-2 in doubles. Libi Mesh and Sonya Treshcheva were also losing 3-2 in Treshcheva’s first match back from a foot injury since Feb. 3.

But the venue switch seemingly had no effect. Hegab and Yusupova lost 6-3 and Mesh and Treshcheva lost 6-2, giving Georgia Tech the first point of the match. Knutson and Ramirez were only down 5-4, but their match went unfinished.

The first singles match of the day finished quickly. Sofya Golubovskaya, in just her second singles match since Feb. 10 after a shoulder injury, struggled at second doubles against Nami Otsuka. Golubovskaya fell in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

In first singles, No. 42 Knutson squared off against No. 24 Kenya Jones. Jones took the first set, 6-4, but Knutson fired back with a 6-4 set win of her own. But in the third set, Knutson hit a wall. Already down 5-0 in the set, a cross-court return by Knutson was fired back by a Jones backhand down the sideline and Knutson couldn’t get there in time, giving Jones the 6-0 set win. Minutes later, the Yellow Jackets clinched the match as Valeriya Deminova defeated Masha Tritou in fourth singles, 6-3, 7-5.

No. 71 Ramirez won 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in third singles and Yusupova, playing at sixth singles, also won in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-0). And at fifth singles, Mesh pushed Gia Cohen to three sets, winning the final set, 7-5.

Syracuse will look to get back in the win column on March 11 when they travel to face Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida.

Published on March 3, 2019 at 4:48 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu