'Cuse Knocks off #30 Notre Dame, 4-3

SYRACUSE, N.Y.- The No. 33 Syracuse women's tennis team defeated No. 30 Notre Dame for the first time in program history on Sunday afternoon, beating the Fighting Irish by the final score of 4-3. The Orange victory came down to the final singles match in an absolute thriller at Drumlins Country Club.

"This is a huge win for our program. Our coaching staff knew from day one how special this team could be," head coach Younes Limam said. "Today was not different than any other day, it was a total team effort and the ladies played their hearts out and managed adversity extremely well. We couldn't be any prouder of them. Notre Dame is a very good team and kept coming back, but our team did a fantastic job finishing matches."

The win for Syracuse (8-1, 2-1 ACC) over Notre Dame (8-4, 3-1 ACC) marks its highest victory over a ranked opponent since 2011 when the Orange defeated No. 25 Yale, 4-3. Graduate student No. 42 Anna Shkudun sealed the win for Syracuse in a dramatic three-set victory over No. 41 Quinn Gleason.

After dropping the first set 6-2 to Gleason, Shkudun bounced back for the next two, winning both sets 7-5, 6-4.

Freshmen Maria Tritou and Dina Hegab also came up big for the Orange, winning both of their singles matches. Tritou defeted Mary Closs in two straight sets 6-3, 6-2 and also won in doubles by teaming up with sophomore Nicole Mitchell. Like Shkudun, Hegab won her singles match in three sets, taking the first set 6-2 before winning the next two, 6-3, 6-4. Hegab is a perfect 8-0 on the season in singles play.

Freshman No. 115 Gabriela Knutson lost her first singles match of the season in a heart breaker. Knutson took the first set 6-3 to Allison Miller but lost the next two 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), falling to 7-1 on the season. Classmate Libi Mesh was defeated by Brooke Broda 6-4, 6-3, as Notre Dame tied up the match at two points apiece.

Junior No. 124 Valeria Salazar was unable to get much going in singles play against No. 56 Monica Robinson, falling in two sets 6-1, 6-4. Although both Salazar and Knutson were defeated in singles play, they came out on top in their doubles match. The duo remains perfect at 4-0 in doubles after defeating Gleason and Robinson 6-4.

With the doubles loss from Shkudun and Hegab to Closs and Vrabel 6-1, the doubles point came down to Tritou and Mitchell. Tritou and Mitchell battled Jane Fennelly and Allison Miller to the very end, coming out on top 7-6 with a 7-4 tie-break win.

Syracuse will be on the road for its next four contests, starting on Friday when the team travels to take on No. 9 Duke at 3 p.m.

For more information and updates, follow Syracuse women's tennis on Twitter (@Cuse_Tennis), Instagram (@CuseTennis) and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Dina Hegab

Gabriela Knutson

Libi Mesh

Nicole Mitchell

Valeria Salazar

Anna Shkudun

Maria Tritou

Syracuse University Athletics