GAINESVILLE, FLA. - No. 25 Syracuse (No. 2 seed) defeated No. 46 Georgia State (No. 3 seed) in the NCAA Women's Tennis First Round on Friday, May 13 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
The Panthers secured the doubles point on Friday afternoon after an hour of play to begin the match. The Panther duo of Daniela Ramirez and Lara Vovk fell to the Orange's Tritou and Michelle, 6-0, but Georgia State would come storming back on the doubles court. Linn Timmerman and Tarani Kamoe upset the No. 27-ranked tandem of Gabriela Knutson and Valeria Salazar, 6-3. Kristin Rehse and Niri Rasolomalala then clinched the doubles point over Schkudun and Hegab, 7-5 on court two.
In singles action, the Panthers quickly extended their lead to 2-0 with Daniela Ramirez's dominating 6-2, 6-0 win on court four.
Syracuse got its first match point on court five with Tarani Kamoe's 6-2, 6-4 loss at the hands of Libi Mesh. The Orange would bring the match back to two-all with Gabriella Knutson's 6-3, 7-5 win over Niri Rasolomalala.
Georgia State put Syracuse on the brink of elimination as Kristin Rehse defeated Valeria Salazar on court two, 7-5, 7-5.
Yet, it was the Orange that came through in the final two matches. Dina Hegab evened the score for the Orange with a long and highly-contested straight set 7-6(2), 7-6(1) win over Lara Vovk on court six.
No. 64-ranked Anna Schkudun defeated GSU's No. 114-ranked Linn Timmerman, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to clinch the NCAA win. Georgia State's Timmerman had rallied to take a 5-4 lead in the second set and GSU was basically four points then away from the clinching win.
“Obviously, we are a little disappointed now,” head coach Jason Marshall said. “I thought we had a legitimate chance to close it out an hour before it ended and we made a lot of mistakes that helped them late. Our fitness could have been better (the match lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes).
“The doubles point was a huge start and showed how ready the team was to play today,” coach added. “At that point, you know a 3-3 singles split is all you need. That opened the door for a great opportunity. And, Daniela brought her energy to get us a quick point in singles. She helps others with her positive energy even as a freshman and will be one of our leaders next year.”
“Kristin's win was also big for us and should have given us a little momentum to close the match out, but it didn't do that unfortunately,” coach said.
“The team toughed it out because at this point of a season everyone has nagging injuries,” coach continued. “They blocked out that pain and kept fighting. Timmerman had rolled her ankle during the week and hurt it again in the second set, so she wasn't 100 percent at the end, but she gave it everything she had. She was one game away from cllinching the match in spite of the injury. Obviously, we were down also starter who couldn't travel as a result of her season-ending injury in the conference championship, so that is something you just try to overcome the best you can.”
Georgia State finishes the highly-successful season 15-6 with a conference championship trophy for the program, along with this second NCAA bid in three years and third bid in seven years.
