Syracuse falls in 2nd round of ACC Tournament to North Carolina
Corey Henry | Staff Photographer
After defeating No. 8-seed Georgia Tech to advance to the second round of the ACC tournament, Syracuse’s run was halted. On Friday, the No. 9-seed Orange (13-12, 5-9 Atlantic Coast) were dominated by No. 1-seed North Carolina (27-1, 14-0) in a 4-0 rout.
The match was moved indoors to the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in Durham, North Carolina due to weather. No. 56 Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez were quickly dispatched by No. 7 Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham, 6-1, after going down a break to start. Shortly after, a tornado warning suspended play for about 45 minutes.
Once play resumed, the UNC pairing of Sara Daavettila and Alle Sanford finished off Sonya Treshcheva and Guzal Yusupova 6-2, with head coach Younes Limam once again opting to split up Treshcheva and Golubovskaya (who was paired with Dina Hegab). The Orange’s losing streak in doubles now extends to 10 games with the last coming on March 15.
Masha Tritou, playing at fifth singles, was the first to fall. After starting tied 1-all, Tritou would not win another game against No. 118 Aney, losing 6-1, 6-0. No. 97 Ramirez went down two breaks early to No. 14 Daavettila and lost the first set 6-3. Ramirez struggled in the second set as Daavettila won 6-0.
North Carolina clinched the match at first singles. No. 13 Knutson jumped out to a 4-2 lead up a break, but fell in the first set 6-4. As with Ramirez and Tritou, the second set did not feature a winning game for the Orange as Knutson also fell 6-0. The remainder of the matches went unfinished.
The No. 30 Orange now have to wait until April 29 to see if they will receive an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.
Published on April 19, 2019 at 7:58 pm
Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu