Syracuse Tennis drops 4-2 to Florida State
By Evan Zaretsky | @evan_zaretsky
TALLAHASSE, F.L. – Syracuse Tennis (6-10, 2-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference) played its final road match of the regular season against Florida State (5-14, 1-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference) this morning.
Doubles was competitive throughout on all three courts. 7 games in, Knezkova and Sysoeva and Shastova and Wojcik were up 4-3. Bennetto and Scaldalai were down 4-3. FSU’s No. 3 Cricchio and Deatherage won two straight games to defeat Bennetto and Scaldalai 6-3. Sysoeva and Knezkova and Shastova and Wojcik both went down 6-5. SU’s No. 1 match finished first as Sysoeva and Knezkova dropped the match 7-5 to give FSU the doubles point. Shastova and Wojcik fell 7-6 (7-4).
Set one of singles was competitive. Syracuse went to three 6-6 tiebreaking matches, but lost each of them. Serafima Shastova dominated 6-0, and won set two 6-1 before most of the set one matches finished to get SU on the board. Emma Scaldalai won set one 6-2, and Knezkova won 6-3.
Emma Scaldalai triumphed 6-2 in set two to give SU a 2-1 lead, but FSU quickly got that point back as Kristyna Lavickova beat Monika Wojcik 6-1 in set two. Leena Bennetto and Anastasia Sysoeva both won 6-4 in set two to push a third set, but Nelly Knezkova lost set two 6-3 to push her match to a third set as well.
Knezkova was the first to wrap up set three, losing 6-4. That meant SU had to win both remaining matches to take down FSU. Leena Bennetto though was swept 6-0 in the third set and the Seminoles took down the Orange. Anastasia Sysoeva’s match went unfinished.
FINAL: Syracuse 2 – 4 Florida State
Syracuse comes back to Drumlins for two more regular season matches before it heads to the ACC tournament the following week. The first against Georgia Tech on Friday, the team that bumped Syracuse out of the ACC tournament in round three last season. First doubles serve in Drumlins is set for 3. For live coverage of the match, follow @evan_zaretsky and @citrustvsports on X/Twitter!
