Syracuse Tennis dominates Boston College 5-0 for its first ACC win
By Evan Zaretsky | @evan_zaretsky
CHESTNUT HILL, M.A. – Syracuse Tennis (4-5, 0-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference) concluded its three game road trip in Massachusetts to face Boston College (6-4, 0-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference). Both teams entered the contest with two losses to ranked teams, North Carolina and Duke.
Doubles for Syracuse was a tale of two halves. SU’s #2 pairing Serafima Shastova and Monika Wojcik dominated BC’s Olivia Benton and Layden Games winning 6-1. The Orange’s No. 3 however, didn’t have the same fortune. Leena Bennetto and Constance Levivier lost their match 6-2, meaning the doubles point came down to the No. 1 match. And for SU, who else would you want in that situation than your No. 1 pairing and ITA’s #20 Nelly Knezkova and Anastasia Sysoeva?
Well, the duo was down 5-3 and at risk of losing the match and ultimately the point to Boston College. Surely it would be impossible for them to win four straight games and take the match, right? If you said no, you would be wrong! Knezkova and Sysoeva show why they are one of the best in the nation and win four straight games to complete the comeback to give Syracuse the doubles point.
Syracuse started the opening set in singles hot, up in every match. Five of the six matches were kept close, except for Monika Wojcik’s. The sophomore swept her first set 6-0. Following that, four of five Orange players won their opening set. That includes Anastasia Sysoeva’s debut at the No. 1 spot, where she won the first set 6-3. The only Syracuse player to drop the first set was Emma Scaldalai, who lost a 6-6 tiebreaking game to fall 7-6
For Monika Wojcik, set two was the complete opposite as set one, at least to start. She went down 4-0 quickly, but mounted a mini comeback to make it 5-4, but lost the set-deciding point to lose 6-4 in set two to push a third set.
Nelly Knezkova continued her dominance in set two to win 6-4, 6-2. The junior picked up her sixth singles win of the season, and gave SU its second point of the day.
Anastasia Sysoeva and Serafima Shastova both won their second sets to make it 4-0 and give SU the win. Lenna Bennetto finished up with a victory 6-4, 6-3 over Leyden Games to put the Orange up 5-0. The final two matches went unfinished.
Final in Chestnut Hill: Syracuse 5 – 0 Boston College. The Blue Devils’ continue their dominance against the Orange, improving to 16-0 all-time.
SU returns home to face SMU on Sunday, March 8. It’ll be the first ever meetup between the Orange and the Mustangs. Match time is set for 11 at Drumlins. Make sure to follow @evan_zaretsky and @citrustvsports on X/Twitter and Youtube for live in-game updates.
