Tulane University
Syracuse
No. 72 WTN Drops 5-2 Match to Syracuse
Feb 6, 2016 | Women's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS - In their first meeting in the Tulane women's tennis head coach Terri Sisk era, the No. 72 Green Wave (1-4) could not best the visiting Syracuse Orange (4-0), falling 5-2 on Saturday morning at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center. The Green Wave claimed the doubles point and received a singles victory from senior Jacqui Katz.
"We came up on the short end today but I only want to focus on a couple of things," Sisk stated. "First, the effort and fight we displayed today was impressive. Hats off to Jacqui and Meredith for continuing to fight so hard even though the match was already decided. That alone will make us grow so much and I couldn't be happier about what I saw. Second, when you lose matches you only hope that the team learned something valuable as both a team and individually. Today we did just that. I know we are being tested and pushed every match but this team is fighting and working their butts off so I'm ok with this stretch. We are going to take a day off and regroup on Monday in preparation for another tough weekend in Wisconsin."
Tulane soared in the early goings, claiming their third doubles point of the season. Katz and Kyla Klier got the ball rolling with a 6-2 win on court three over Nicole Mitchell and Maria Tritou. Next, No. 1 doubles pair Sade Atkinson and Ipek Birol clinched with a 6-4 victory vs. Valeria Salazar and Anna Shkudun, earning their second straight win in the process. Meanwhile, Naz Karagoz's and Elena Muller's match went unfinished on court two, as the duo were up 5-4 over Dina Hegab and Gabriela Knutson.
Syracuse then turned the tide of the match in singles play, earning straight-set wins on courts one through four. Thus, despite the match already being clinched with four points from the Orange, Katz fought on against Mesh on court five. After dropping the first set 7-5, Katz bounced back with a 6-4 second set, forcing the match into a third set super tiebreak. There, the senior surged ahead with the 1-0(8) win, moving to 2-2 on the dual season.
Up next, the Green Wave hit the road to Madison, Wisconsin, for two matches, starting with No. 17 Texas Tech on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. CT, followed by Big Ten foe Wisconsin on Sunday at 10 a.m.
Finally, please see the list below for complete results of today's match.
Green Wave Results
Syracuse 5, #72 Tulane 2
Singles competition
1. #37 Anna Shkudun (SU) def. Naz Karagoz (TLN) 7-5, 6-2
2. Valeria Salazar (SU) def. Kyla Klier (TLN) 6-1, 6-1
3. Gabriela Knutson (SU) def. Ipek Birol (TLN) 6-3, 6-3
4. Maria Tritou (SU) def. Elena Muller (TLN) 6-3, 7-5
5. Jacqui Katz (TLN) def. Libi Mesh (SU) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Dina Hegab (SU) def. Meredith Maltby (TLN) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles competition
1. Sade Atkinson/Ipek Birol (TLN) def. Valeria Salazar/Anna Shkudun (SU) 6-4
2. Naz Karagoz/Elena Muller (TLN) vs. Dina Hegab/Gabriela Knutson (SU) 5-4, unfinished
3. Kyla Klier/Jacqui Katz (TLN) def. Nicole Mitchell/Maria Tritou (SU) 6-2
Players Mentioned
