Orange Best Niagara in Season Opener

Sunday, January 21

11AM

Syracuse University

Niagara University

Photo by: Jes Sheldon

1/21/2018 10:04:00 PM | Tennis

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse women's tennis team opened the 2018 season with a win after defeating Niagara 7-0 Sunday morning in non-conference action. The Orange swept both the doubles and singles portion of the contest to take the 7-0 victory over the Purple Eagles.

"I think it was important for us to be focused on the first match of the season," said head coach Younes Limam. "I thought our team did a very good job of not taking the opponent lightly. It's never easy to get the first match in and get rid of the nerves. I thought it was a really solid performance and I couldn't be prouder of how sound the team was from start to finish."

Syracuse started the match off strong, claiming the doubles point following dominant victories by all three Orange pairs. The No. 1 singles (Anna Shkudun and Sofya Golubovskaya) and the No. 2 singles (Maria Tritou and Dina Hegab) each tallied 6-0 victories in the doubles round. The third pair of Nicole Mitchell and Libi Mesh capped the Syracuse doubles win with a 6-2 defeat of Niagara.

Golubovskaya made her first appearance as an Orange in the No. 2 singles match, cruising to victory after defeating Niagara's Andreea Peteau 6-1, 6-1. Junior Gabriela Knutson and Shkudun also defeated their opponents 6-1, 6-1 to continue the Orange's success.

Mesh and Hegab each bested their opposition in two straight sets with Hegab being the only Orange to post perfect sets (6-0, 6-0). Tritou came out on top in set one, 6-3, but was down early in set two, 3-1. The junior battled back and emerged victorious, 6-4, to cap the match for Syracuse.

The Orange are back in action on Friday when they host Colgate and renew their in-state rivalry. First serve is set for 3 p.m. and admission to all matches at Drumlins Country Club is free.

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