Syracuse tennis falls 6-1 to FAU in first road match
By Evan Zaretsky | @evan_zaretsky
BOCA RATON, F.L. – After a week off, Syracuse Tennis (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) returned to action on the road against Florida Atlantic (1-2, 0-0 American Conference).The Orange started off their doubles matches, slow, to say the least. SU’s No. 3 pairing Constance Levivier & Leena Bennetto were swept 6-0 in their match to FAU’s Malika Amirgaliyeva & Alexia Patru. But, Syracuse still had a chance to bounce back in doubles with the other 2 matches still close. Could it?
No… Syracuse’s No. 2 Serafima Shastova & Monika Wojcik lost 6-3 to Florida Atlantic’s Panna Bartha & Katrin Pavkova. No. 1 Nelly Knezkova & Anastasia Sysoeva ended their match 5-3 unfinished. The Orange dropped the doubles point.
The first set of doubles didn’t exactly go Syracuse’s way either. Princeton grad student and No. 5 Leena Bennetto dropped the first set 6-1 in her singles match. No. 6 rookie Emma Scaldalai, and returners No. 1 Serfamina Shastova and No. 4 Monika Wojcik all lost their first sets. No. 3 Nelly Knezkova and No. 2 Anastasia Sysoeva both won their first sets, 6-4 and 6-3, respectively.
The second set didn’t go the ‘Cuse’s way either. Shastova’s match ended 3-0 and shortly after Bennetto fell 6-2 to Pavkova. The two losses to start the second set put Orange down 3-0 and meant they had to win all four of the remaining singles matches in play to defeat the Owls.
Emma Scaldalai finished up her second set with a 6-2 loss, putting Syracuse down 4-0 and defeated by Florida Atlantic. Sysoeva, Knezkova and Wojcik all finished out their matches however. Only Wojcik came away with the match victory.
Final from Boca Raton: Syracuse 1 – 6 Florida Atlantic. It’s the first time in four years the Orange don’t start their season off 3-0.
Syracuse gets a day of rest before it’s back in action against Florida International on Sunday at noon. It’s the season opener for the Panthers. For live coverage of the match, follow @evan_zaretsky and @citrustvsports on X/Twitter!
