Syracuse (2-0) won its second consecutive match in Virginia today as the Orange stayed inside the VCU Bubble and defeated the Virginia Commonwealth Rams (1-1) with a final score of 5-2. Monday’s win comes a day after the Orange defeated Richmond, 6-1.

The Orange’s doubles team for the second time this season did not sweep the doubles point, with them winning 2 out of 3 doubles sets in both Virginia games.

Two of the Orange’s three doubles teams beat VCU, repeating their performance from Sunday. SU’s only doubles loss came to VCU’s third doubles duo — Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado and her partner Noumea Witmus — beat Sofya Golubovskaya and Zeynep Erman 6-1, bringing that pair to 0-2 on the season.

Syracuse’s ITA’s No. 48 double pairing Sonya Treshcheva and Kim Hansen won in the first doubles match against the Rams’ Gabriela Ana-Maria Davidescu and Luminita Tutunaru in a final set of 6-1.

When SU seniors Guzal Yusupova and Miranda Ramirez won their match 7-6 (3), the Orange earned the doubles point.

In the first singles match, VCU’s No. 97 Diaz-Delgado quickly defeated Syracuse’s No. 64 Yusupova in two sets of 6-3 and 6-1. Shortly after, Syracuse’s Treshcheva defeated Kanako Yano, 6-3, 6-2, allowing Syracuse to hold its lead to 2-1.

Hansen won her first set, 6-1, against her VCU opponent, Melissa Ifidzhen, but Ifidzhen won the second set 6-3 to tie the fifth singles match. In a point-deciding third set, Hansen finished off her opponent in another 6-1 set win.

The Ram’s unranked Davidescu garnered VCU its second point by upsetting No. 111 Sofya Golubovskaya in three sets of 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Over halfway through the Monday’s singles matches, the Orange held a 3-2 lead.

To win the match-deciding point, Syracuse’s No. 80 Ramirez won her first set 7-6 (4) but then lost her second set to Tutunaru 5-7. Ramirez had a final third set of 6-2, giving Syracuse its fourth point to clinch Monday’s match. This win also pushes Ramirez’s 2020 singles record to 2-0.

The Orange were also awarded another point from their sixth singles match with Polina Kozyreva winning her first set 6-3 against Witmus. The sixth singles matchup did not finish their second set, but Kozyreva ended up with a lead of 4-3, earning SU an extra point and making the final match score 5-2.

After this two-game Virginia road trip, Syracuse heads back to the Drumlins Country Club to play Cornell on Jan. 26, marking the Orange’s first home game of the season. The Orange will stick in Syracuse for over a month, but will head back to Virginia to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Mar. 6.

Published on January 20, 2020 at 8:55 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs