#27 Tennis Ready For ACC Tourney

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 27-ranked Syracuse women's tennis team prepares for postseason play this week, entering the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament seeded seventh with a first-round bye. The Orange will play 10-seeded North Carolina State on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

Syracuse (13-7, 7-7 ACC) is coming off a 5-2 win over No. 30 Virginia Tech, propelling the squad up five spots to No. 27 in the most recent ITA rankings. With the victory over the Hokies, the Orange secured a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament for the first time. The ACC Women's Tennis Championship page can be viewed here.

Wednesday's first-round action will begin with NC State facing Louisville at 10 a.m., No. 11 Notre Dame squaring off against No. 14 Pitt in another 10 a.m. match, and No. 12 Florida State taking on No. 13 Boston College at 1 p.m. NC State defeated Louisville 4-0 to move on to the second round of action to face off against the Orange.

The Wake Forest-Virginia Tech second-round match opens the slate on Thursday at 10 a.m. No. 7 Syracuse will take on the winner of NC State-Louisville, while No. 6 Clemson will take on the winner of Notre Dame-Pitt in a pair of other 10 a.m. matches. No. 5 Virginia gets its first does of action at 1 p.m. against the winner of Florida State and Boston College.

Teams receiving double-byes to Friday's quarterfinal round along with North Carolina include No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Georgia Tech and No. 4 Duke.

Action in the 2016 ACC Women's Tennis Championship will continue with a pair of 10 a.m. semifinal matches on Saturday and will conclude with Sunday's 10 a.m. championship match. The complete bracket can be accessed here.

Syracuse completed the final weekend of regular-season competition by splitting matches against ACC opponents. The Orange fell to No. 7 Miami by a score of 6-1 on Friday, but bounced back strong to defeat No. 30 Virginia Tech.

Freshman No. 81 Gabriela Knutson improved to 14-5 overall in singles matches this season by winning in both matches, while graduate student No. 62 Anna Shkudun won against Virginia Tech to improve to 11-9 in first singles on the season. Junior Valeria Salazar and freshman Dina Hegab both earned singles victories against Virginia Tech as well. Salazar is now 10-9 overall while Hegab posts an overall record of 10-8.

No. 33 Doubles pair of Gabriela Knutson and Valeria Salazar also took a win against Virginia Tech to improve to 11-3 overall and 10-3 in ACC matches. Their match against Miami ended unfinished, keeping their streak of wins intact and extending it to 5 consecutive matches.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA STATE
The Wolfpack, ranked No. 35 nationally, finished the regular season 14-10 overall with a 6-8 ACC record and are the No. 10 seed in the tournament. In singles competitions, they are led by junior Martina Frantova and freshman Amanda Rebol who are both 14-9. They're backed up by senior Joanna Nalborska who is 13-11 overall and freshman Claudia Wiktorin who is 10-11.

Live stats for both matches can be accessed via Cuse.com.

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Players Mentioned

Dina Hegab

Gabriela Knutson

Valeria Salazar

Anna Shkudun

Syracuse University Athletics