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When Syracuse last played Drexel in 2023, its roster was vastly different. Miyuka Kimoto and Shiori Ito are the only players still with the program.
One similarity between the two games, however, was the outcome. Two years ago, SU defeated Drexel, 4-2. On Sunday, the Orange notched another convincing win over the Dragons.
Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) downed Drexel (1-1, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 6-1 to win its fourth consecutive match. The Orange swept the Dragons in doubles play, improving to 9-3 in that regard on the young season. So far, strong starts have been essential to Syracuse’s success.
“We spent a lot of time working on doubles this week and needed to set the tone early,” SU head coach Younes Limam said. “Doubles is about making a lot of great first serves, and I think the team did really well with that today.”
After a successful doubles outing against Fordham last Sunday, Limam made a few tweaks to the team’s pairings this afternoon. The No. 1 pairing of Ito and Nelly Knezkova remained the same, however.
Ranked as the No. 96 duo in the ITA Doubles Rankings, Ito and Knezkova made quick work of Drexel’s Elisa Rigazio and Maddie Ricardo with a commanding 6-0 victory.
After Ito watched a Drexel return serve sail way out of play, SU took a 40-30 lead. A back-and-forth intense rally ensued, but Ito ultimately aced one right over the middle to give Syracuse the set.
In the No. 2 doubles matchup, Syracuse’s Constance Levivier and Monika Wojcik squared off against Drexel’s Anastasia Kavounov and Rebecca Fiedler. While the Dragons evened things 1-1, the Orange took control after that.
Up 4-1, Syracuse’s duo watched Drexel’s background curve and ultimately fell short, hitting the net. Fiedler’s serve ended up way out of play, giving Levivier and Wojcik their first victory together as a pairing.
Finally, in the No. 3 doubles, Anastasia Sysoeva and Serafima Shastova played together for the first time this spring, defeating Drexel’s Sofiya Snitko and Bia Ibrahim 6-0.
“I think we learned a lot after doubles last weekend and tweaked a few things,” Limam said about how the sweep set the tone for the remainder of the day. “We made sure our opponents were under pressure and played offensive tennis.”
Due to a nagging leg injury, Kimoto sat out of both singles and doubles against Drexel. Regardless, SU won 5-of-6 sets, backed by strong forehands and backhands.
In the No. 1 singles matchup, Knezkova found herself down 2-1 early to Rigazio. However, the power of her backhand was too much for Rigazio to overcome, and Knezkova won in two sets, 6-4 and 6-3.
“I transferred into singles with high spirits and a positive mindset,” Knezkova said. “Shiori always brings a ton of energy into doubles, and I was just trying to bring my doubles success over to singles.”
SU’s lone blemish came when No. 2 Sysoeva fell to Snitko in three sets. With Sysoeva up 6-5 in the first set, her awareness and high IQ were on full display as she patiently watched a 50/50 ball miss the tip of the doubles alley corner, giving her the early lead.
With Snitko up 5-2 in the second set and seemingly holding all momentum, Sysoeva mistracked a ball drifting toward the left corner and couldn’t recover, forcing a third set.
In a back-and-forth final set, with Sysoeva down 4-3, she felt like she lacked the power she was accustomed to having. As a result, she sprinted to her backpack and grabbed a new racket.
This paid dividends for her early on, as she evened the set 4-4. Soon after, she began to run out of gas and faltered in a close three-set defeat.
In the No. 3 singles matchup, Ito continued her stellar afternoon with 6-4 and 6-1 wins over Ricardo. Then, Levivier took down Kavounov in the No. 4 match in two sets, 6-4 and 6-4.
No. 5 Wojcik carried over her strong doubles performance into singles with an electrifying 6-0 victory in the first set over Fiedler. Fiedler fought back to take the second set, but Wojcik prevailed with a 6-2 win in the final set.
Finally, No. 6 Haram Kim continued her early season singles success with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ibrahim. Kim is now 2-0 on the year in singles.
After a dominating start to nonconference play, the Orange will look to carry their momentum against Boston University.
“We’re going into our first ACC match and playing a very good BU team on Saturday,” Limam said. “We’re going in with a lot of confidence, and hopefully we can carry over that momentum.”
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