A slicing shot to the corner from No. 67 Miranda Ramirez was too far out of reach for Harvard’s Rachel Lim, by two steps. The Syracuse junior dominated the first set 6-1, but struggled in the second, quickly down a break at 3-0. Her shot toward baseline, after rattling off six of the next seven games, completed her comeback.

“I wasn’t too worried at all,” Ramirez said. “I had to re-focus and make sure I didn’t let her get any more of a lead than what she had.”

Ramirez’s straight-set win gave Syracuse a 2-0 lead after taking an early doubles point. But she wasn’t the only one to sweep her opponent on Sunday. Shortly after, Libi Mesh and No. 48 Gabriela Knutson also won in straight-sets, and Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova followed in similar fashion. No. 19 Syracuse’s (6-4) dominance in singles play overpowered Harvard (6-4) less than two hours after the match started.

“They have about the same players they had the year before, so we knew what to expect,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “I think they went about their business as usual with a lot of focus and intensity, and I think it helped us get through the day.”

In doubles, Knutson and Ramirez won convincingly 6-2, with the winning point coming on a Knutson overhead volley smash past Harvard. Less than 30 seconds later, Hegab and Yusupova wrapped up a 6-1 victory to clinch the point almost simultaneously. After a streak of losing five-straight doubles’ points entering Friday’s match, the Orange have now won the point in back-to-back matches.

Mesh won her second straight match, 6-2, 6-1, and her third of her last four. With Golubovskaya and Sonya Trescheva battling injuries, Mesh has held her own at sixth singles.

“I think everybody puts in the work and deserves to play,” he said. “So we’ll get to that when we get to it.”

Yusupova pulled out a close first set, 6-4, with a strong forehand to the back corner. She dominated after the first set, winning 6,4, 6-0. Hegab’s match ended fifth among the singles, but the outcome was never in much doubt. She won 6-2, 6-3. And Knutson defeated No. 75 Erica Oosterhout 6-4, 6-4 despite having a string of her racket break while up 5-3, forcing her to switch to a new one and adjust to it. Knutson’s doubles and singles wins moved her to No. 2 all-time in Syracuse history, with 162. Masha Tritou was the lone point dropped on Sunday. She lost in a super tiebreaker.

“It’s incredible,” Knutson said of the dominant performance. “We really needed this, especially after the losses. I was hoping we would get it, and it makes me really happy.”

Sweeping wins at home this weekend, the Orange now have momentum built back up for a long stretch of road games including three ACC games. SU rebounded from four straight losses entering Friday’s game, having played a tough schedule of three top-25 teams in that stretch. They won’t be play at home again until March 15.

“We know that we’re going to have our hands full on Friday, and Sunday against Notre Dame on the road,” Limam said. “I’m glad this weekend went well and the girls got a lot of confidence from it.”

Published on February 17, 2019 at 4:38 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu