Thursday, April 24
Cary, N.C.
9 am
Syracuse University
vs
Florida State
Tennis Faces Florida State In Second Round Of ACC Championship
4/23/2014 1:46:00 PM | Tennis
| MATCH-20: #64 SYRACUSE ORANGE vs. #42 FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES | |
| Thursday, April 24 at 9 a.m. | Cary Tennis Park, Cary N.C. | |
| GAME COVERAGE: | Twitter: @Cuse | @Cuse_Tennis |
| CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | Championship Page | Live Results | Bracket |
| SU LINKS: | Match Notes | Roster | Schedule | Results |
| FSU LINKS: | Roster | Schedule | Results | @FSU_WTennis |
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 64 Syracuse tennis team earned the No. 9 seed and a first round bye in its inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Tennis Championship, and will play eighth-seeded, nationally-ranked No. 42 Florida State in the second round on Thursday, April 24 at 9 a.m. in Cary, N.C.
No. 11 North Carolina got the top seed in the tournament, which runs from Wednesday, April 23 through Sunday, April 27, and will play the winner of Syracuse (5-13, 5-9 ACC) and Florida State (14-11, 6-8 ACC).
The Orange won this year's meeting between the two schools, upsetting then-ranked No. 25 FSU, 4-3 at home on March 7, for only the program's second win against a top-25 team since at least 2001. Trailing 3-1, SU stormed back to win the final three matches on courts four, five and six, with two of them coming in third-set tiebreakers, including the clinching point by junior Komal Safdar. Senior Maddie Kobelt and freshman Valeria Salazar defeated the currently-ranked No. 44 tandem of Kerrie Cartwright and Daneika Borthwick while Kobelt also won at first singles against Cartwright, who was recently ranked No. 123 in singles.
One-day tickets for the ACC Championship are $8.00 for adults, $6.00 for children nine and older, college students and seniors (55+) and children eight and under are free. Championship passes may be purchased for the entire event. The cost for adults is $15.00 while children nine and older, college students and seniors (55+) are all $11.00 and children eight and under are free. Tickets can be purchased at Cary Tennis Park or via phone by calling 919-462-2061.
LAST TIME OUT:
Syracuse split its final regular-season weekend, defeating No. 74 Wake Forest 4-3 while dropping a close 4-3 decision to No. 24 Notre Dame, both at Drumlins. Against the Deacon Demons, SU locked up the match early by winning the doubles point and taking the first three matches in the singles competition to go up 4-0. Juniors Amanda Rodgers and Komal Safdar and freshman Valeria Salazar all went 2-0 on the day.
On Sunday versus Notre Dame, Syracuse was looking for its second top-25 upset of the season, but came up just short. Senior Maddie Kobelt and freshman Valeria Salazar teamed up at first doubles to take down No. 10 Quinn Gleason and Britney Sanders of Notre Dame. However, the Orange dropped the doubles point in a third-set tiebreaker on the third court and its three singles victories were not enough. The freshmen trio of Salazar, Rhiann Newborn and Maria Avgerinos all won in their individual matches, with Salazar finishing 2-0 on the day to complete a perfect 4-0 weekend.
DUO RISES IN DOUBLES RANKING:
Senior Maddie Kobelt and freshman Valeria Salazar became Syracuse's most recent nationally-ranked doubles team when the pair jumped into the ITA rankings at No. 72 on April 15. The pair slid up to No. 45 on April 22, which is the highest since Kobelt teamed up with Emily Harman for a spot in the polls at No. 41 on April 12, 2011. That season, Kobelt and Harman achieved the highest ranking by an Orange duo of No. 32 on March 29, 2011.
KOBELT HONORED ON ALL-ACC TEAM:
For the second straight season, senior Maddie Kobelt earned a spot on the All-Conference team, this time taking home All-ACC Second Team honors after receiving All-BIG EAST in 2013. She is only the second player in school history to be selected to an All-Conference team multiple times, joining Emily Harman, who was All-BIG EAST three times.
KOBELT/SALAZAR PULL OFF UPSETS
Senior Maddie Kobelt and freshman Valeria Salazar pulled off two of the biggest upsets in program-history in the past two weeks. First the duo dispatched of Clemson's 12th-ranked doubles pairing of Yana Koroleva and Beatrice Gumulya, 8-2 for the first Syracuse win against a ranked doubles team since Feb. 26, 2012 when Emily Harman and current assistant coach Alessondra Parra downed 27th-ranked Hanna Yu and Vicky Brook of Yale. Kobelt and Salazar repeated the performance last weekend against No. 10 Quinn Gleason and Britney Sanders of Notre Dame, winning 8-6.
UNPARRALLED SUCCESS:
SU has won four matches this season against top-75 teams from the ITA, with all three versus teams ranked 50 or higher. That is the most in a single-season dating back to at least 2001, and believed to be the most by a Syracuse team in just one season.
SCOUTING THE SEMINOLES:
The Seminoles ended the season on a high-note, winning three of its last four matches. Prior to that, Florida State had lost three in a row to ACC teams that would eventually all tie for the top spot in the conference. FSU is led by the junior duo of Kerrie Cartwright and Daneika Borthwick, both of which were named to the All-ACC team and are ranked one spot ahead of Kobelt and Salazar for doubles teams at No. 44. Cartwright was also included in the singles rankings, coming in at No. 123.
UP NEXT:
If Syracuse wins against Florida State on Thursday, the Orange will go on to face top-seeded North Carolina at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 25.
Sunday, April 12
Sunday, April 12
Sunday, April 12
Sunday, April 12
