Gabriela Knutson said she already saw herself in the locker room.

Syracuse’s No. 1 singles player, and the No. 4 player in the country had just played the best set and a half of her season, and the Orange seemed on its way to its second-consecutive home win over a top-5 opponent. With the doubles point in hand, Knutson was dominating Samantha Harris at first singles, and the Orange led on two other courts.

As quickly as SU built up a lead on multiple courts, the lead vanished. Sofya Golubovskaya, Knutson and Masha Tritou all squandered early leads in singles as No. 4 Duke (18-2, 10-1 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 28 Syracuse (14-6, 6-6) 4-2 on Friday evening at Drumlins Country Club. At one point in the first set, Syracuse was leading or tied on every singles court. SU went on to win just one of the five completed singles matches.

No turnaround was more dramatic than Knutson’s, who led the match 6-0, 2-0 at one point. She was dominating Harris, the No. 5 singles player in the country, easily. Knutson pummeled forehand after forehand, crushed serves and moved fluidly. Harris fought to keep herself in the points, but Knutson’s power was too great for the first hour of the match.

“I didn’t miss, at all. Everything was working,” Knutson said. “I was expecting her to come back and handle my pace better.”

By the midpoint of the second set, Harris caught up. Knutson was forced to hit countless extra shots, and eventually, the errors followed. Knutson’s serves, which painted lines in the first set, started missing.

Even as Harris improved her play and Knutson’s level dropped, SU’s No. 1 could see the finish line. She led 4-3 in the second set, and the Orange had the edge on the scoreboard.

“At 4-3, I already saw myself in the locker room, I took a step back and I thought I was going to win,” Knutson said. “I took one short breath, and that gave her the opportunity to take back the match.”

In that breath, Harris took the small opening and capitalized, breaking Knutson’s serve at 4-all to take the lead and win the set.

The third set was never close. Harris took the initiative from the opening point, playing more aggressively and forcing Knutson to play difficult shots. Down 4-0, Knutson missed three forehands — two sailed long, one hit the middle of the net.

After she skied a forehand nearly into the back curtain behind Harris, Knutson turned and looked at associate head coach Shelley George. With her arms at her side, she mouthed a message to George in disbelief.

Even as Syracuse led 2-0 in the duel and had multiple leads in the ongoing matches, Harris’ comeback was just a part of the Blue Devils’ wave that propelled them to victory.

On the court next to Knutson, Golubovskaya raced out to a 3-0 lead. Much like Knutson, her advantage quickly disappeared. Kaitlyn McCarthy adjusted and began to frustrate Golubovskaya by mixing up shots and pace. McCarthy leveled the set at 5-all and took advantage of the big points to grab the first set, 7-5.

“We had a lot of chances and that’s the way it goes sometimes,” head coach Younes Limam said. “Credit to Duke, they hung in there and played really well.”

The second set was close throughout, with neither player leading by more than one game until McCarthy served out the match to win the second 7-5. Golubovskaya failed to convert when given opportunities to force a deciding third set.

Tritou grabbed an early break at fourth singles and led 3-2. She handed the break right back to Kelly Chen, and Chen broke again at 4-all to grab the opening set. Tritou played from behind most of the second set before losing the match, 6-4, 6-3.

The home crowd, which had been raucous from the opening serve of SU’s excellent doubles performance, went quiet. Anna Shkudun lost 6-2, 6-4 at fifth singles. Golubovskaya dropped her second set. Tritou’s loss left the Orange one point from defeat.

Once Knutson missed three forehands in the final four points to hand the match to Duke, many of the spectators looked around trying to figure out the whirlwind of the previous 15 minutes. Syracuse wasted one of its best doubles performances of the season, including a 6-2 win by Knutson and Ramirez over the No. 8 doubles pairing in the nation.

“We had the momentum,” Limam said. “Sometimes once you have your foot on the gas you have to keep it.”

At one moment, this match was headed in a similar direction to SU’s win over No. 3 Georgia Tech just 12 days earlier. That Sunday, the Orange accelerated its way into the history books.

Friday, Syracuse took its foot off the gas. And it paid the price.

Published on April 13, 2018 at 10:24 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo