Syracuse Tennis Stays Perfect With Weekend Sweep in Boston
By Drew Albaugh | @Drew_Albaugh
BOSTON — Heading into a weekend set against Boston University (2-3) and Boston College (2-3), Syracuse tennis was a perfect 4-0. After two grueling matches and the first conference contest of the season, the Orange emerged undefeated, winning their sixth straight match to open the season.
In the first match against Boston University on Saturday, Syracuse started strong with a lengthy doubles point victory. Anastasia Sysoeva and Miyuka Kimoto, along with Shiori Ito and Nelly Knezkova, secured wins to give the Orange a 1-0 lead.
Sysoeva continued Syracuse’s momentum by defeating BU’s Gabriella Mikaul 6-2, 6-4. It was the junior’s first singles victory of the season, making all eight SU players winners of at least one singles match this year.
Unlike Sysoeva, both Ito and Léa-Lan Lévêque entered the match with undefeated singles records, but that would soon change. Lévêque fell 6-3, 6-1 to BU’s Zhao, marking the Orange’s most lopsided singles loss of the season. Ito fought hard but ultimately lost a back-and-forth contest to the Terriers’ Liu, 7-6, 7-6.
That was the last victory BU would claim, as Syracuse went on to win every remaining singles match, securing a 5-2 win and its first road victory of the season. To leave Massachusetts with a perfect weekend, SU needed to win its ACC opener against Boston College the following morning.
Syracuse started Sunday’s 10 a.m. match much like it did the day before—with a doubles victory, this time by a 2-0 margin. However, unlike against the Terriers, the Orange faced early adversity. Knezkova fell from the No. 1 spot, 6-0, 6-4, to BC’s Olivia Benton.
Senior Shiori Ito responded with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over the Eagles’ Nadia Dimovska at No. 5. With the win, Ito continued her impressive senior season, earning her team-leading fifth singles victory of the year.
SU’s Serafima Shastova kept the momentum going with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win in the No. 4 spot over BC’s Nadia Barteck. With Syracuse needing just one more point for victory, Boston College refused to go down quietly. In a tight No. 3 matchup, Sysoeva fell in three sets to Muskan Mahajan, who claimed the decisive third set 7-6, cutting the score to 3-2 in favor of SU.
However that was as close as BC would get. Kimoto secured a three-set win (7-5, 3-6, 6-4) over Tola Glowacka at No. 2, clinching the Orange’s first ACC victory of the season. The win also marked a confidence boost for Kimoto, who had been sidelined the previous week with an arm injury and leg tightness. Monika Wojcik sealed the match with a straight-sets victory, finalizing the score at 5-2.
With the win, Syracuse leaves Boston 2-0 on the weekend and remains a perfect 6-0 on the season. It marks the second time in three years the Orange have started with six consecutive wins. Next up, Syracuse returns home to face Columbia (4-2), whose only losses have come against Notre Dame and No. 23 UCF.
