Orange Open ACC Play This Weekend

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Coming off an unbeaten run in non-conference play, the Syracuse University women's tennis team (7-0) will play its first two ACC contests of the season this weekend at Drumlins Country Club.

The Orange, who entered this week's ITA team rankings at No. 32, welcome No. 3 North Carolina (7-3) on Friday at 3 p.m. before a showdown against No. 10 Duke (6-2) on Sunday at 11 a.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

NO. 32 SYRACUSE VS. NO. 3 NORTH CAROLINA BRIEFING
Match Details: Feb. 21, 2025 |Syracuse, N.Y. | Drumlins Country Club | 3 p.m.
Twitter: @cuse_tennis
Instagram: @cusetennis
Live Scoring: Click here
ACCNX Stream: Click here
Syracuse Links: Notes | News | Schedule | Roster
North Carolina Links: Notes | News | Schedule | Roster

NO. 32 SYRACUSE VS. NO. 10 DUKE BRIEFING
Match Details: Feb. 23, 2025 | Syracuse, N.Y. | Drumlins Country Club | 11 a.m.
Live Scoring: Click here
ACCNX Stream: Click here
Twitter: @cuse_tennis
Instagram: @cusetennis
Syracuse Links: Notes | News | Schedule | Roster
Duke Links: News | Schedule | Roster

ABOUT THE ORANGE

Syracuse is coming off a 10-11 campaign last spring. The Orange returned four players from last year's team this fall and welcomed two newcomers.
Miyuka Kimoto is back for her senior year with the Orange after racking up 11 doubles and 10 singles victories in the spring. She earned her first ACC Player of the Week Award last March and was tabbed No. 24 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) preseason singles rankings.
Also back as a senior for the Orange is Shiori Ito, who checked in at No. 44 in the ITA's preseason doubles rankings alongside Kimoto. She has won 31 career dual singles contests and to go along with her 27 doubles victories.
Anastasia Sysoeva returns for her second year with 'Cuse as a junior. In her debut campaign last year, she finished with a 12-6 record in singles, which included six wins against ACC opponents.
Another returning junior for the Orange is Constance Levivier, who tallied six wins last spring across singles and doubles.
Syracuse welcomes two fresh faces this fall - Nelly Knezkova and Serafima Shastova. Knezkova earned All-Big West Second Team honors in singles last season at Hawaii, where she played the Nos. 1 and 2 positions. In her one year at Jacksonville State, Shastova won 12 singles contests on her way to earning First Team All-ASUN and ASUN Freshman of the Year honors.
Joining the Orange for the Spring season are two freshmen, Monika Wojcik and Haram Kim.
Head coach Younes Limam returns for his 11th season at the helm of the Orange. Jacqueline Calla is in her second season as an assistant coach.

THE LAST MATCH

The Orange finished with a perfect 7-0 record in non-conference play after defeating Columbia last Sunday. This was the second time in the last three seasons the Orange have gone undefeated in non-conference play.
Doubles pairing Nelly Knezkova and Shiori Ito won their fourth match together this spring at the No. 2 spot.
Anastasia Sysoeva and Miyuka Kimoto clinched the doubles point for the Orange at the No. 1 position, 6-3. They have won their last three appearances together.
Serafima Shastova and Monika Wojcik played at the No. 3 doubles spot and led 5-4 when the match was abandoned.
Syracuse won five of six singles matches, with Knezkova, Shastova and Wojcik all winning in straight sets. Wojcik came from 4-1 down in the second to win 7-5, while Knezkova and Shastova combined to drop just seven games.
Ito and Kimoto both came through tough three-set battles to post points for the Orange. Kimoto won 6-4 in her final set while Ito did not lose a game in her 6-0 third-set triumph.

SINGLES SUCCESS

Syracuse is 34-8 in singles across its first seven matches.
The Orange are 6-1 at four different positions and 7-0 at the No. 6 position.
Syracuse has won 35 sets in singles by either a 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 score. Of Syracuse's 67 winning sets, 52% have come by those scores. Shastova has won a team-best eight sets by these scores.
Ito, Levivier and Shastova have competed at three different singles positions this season.
Knezkova, Ito and Wojcik are tied with a team-best six wins in singles. All six of Knezkova's wins have come from the Nos. 1 and 2 positions.
Shastova is on a five-match winning streak since her loss against Cornell in the season opener.
Syracuse has three players with singles winning streaks of at least four matches – Wojcik (6), Shastova (5) and Kimoto (4).

DOMINATING DOUBLES

Syracuse has played nine different doubles pairings this season. Knezkova and Ito are on a four-match winning streak together and are tied with a team-best four wins with Sysoeva and Kimoto.
Sysoeva has won a team-best six doubles matches this season with three different partners. Knezkova, Ito and Kimoto all have five wins in doubles.
The Orange are 12-1 in doubles since dropping the double point to James Madison on Jan. 25 and have won the doubles point in five straight matches since.
Knezkova and Ito are 4-0 on the 3-0 at the No. 1 doubles position and 1-0 at the No. 2 position.
Overall, Syracuse is 15-4 in doubles play this season with all nine pairings having contributed at least one victory.

FRESHMAN CONTRIBUTIONS

Syracuse freshmen Monika Wojcik and Haram Kim are 12-2 across doubles and singles this season.
Wojcik is 6-0 in singles and has won a pair of sets via a 6-0 score.
Kim made her college debut in the Fordham match, winning at No. 6 singles, 7-5, 6-3.
Wojick was awarded ACC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 4 after competing against Drexel. She won her first ever three-set singles match, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.

FALL RECAP

Syracuse finished the fall with 39 victories in singles and 22 in doubles.
The Orange totaled 23 victories at Penn Invitational from Sept. 13-15, with 13 wins in singles and 10 in doubles.
At ITA New England Regionals from Oct. 10-15, Shastova won the singles title, with Ito and Knezkova making a run to the quarterfinals in the doubles draw.
Syracuse then compiled a 12-0 record in singles at the Big Red Invite from Oct. 25-27. The Orange went 152-58 in games across the 12 singles wins.
Syracuse played its last full fall event at the UB Indoor Invite from Nov. 1-3, with the Orange concluding the tournament with seven wins in singles and four in doubles.
Shastova finished the fall season with a 13-2 record in singles on her way to a berth at the NCAA Individual Championships.
Ito and Knezkova appeared in the ITA final fall doubles rankings at No.96.
Levivier recorded 10 doubles wins in the fall, one of two Orange players to reach 10+ doubles wins in the fall along with Knezkova.
Knezkova combined for 20 wins in the fall across singles and doubles with Ito adding 17 of her own.

SCOUTING NO. 3 NORTH CAROLINA

The Tar Heels are ranked No. 3 in this week's ITA team rankings.
North Carolina is currently on a two-match losing streak following defeats to Virginia and Auburn at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
The Tar Heels have never lost against 'Cuse. North Carolina leads the all-time series, 14-0.
The highlight of North Carolina's season thus far came on Feb. 1 when the Tar Heels defeated then No. 1 Georgia, 4-3.
Four Tar Heels are currently ranked in the ITA singles rankings – Reese Brantmeier (No. 10), Theadora Rabman (No. 13), Carson Tanguilig (No. 32) and Tatum Evans (No. 35). Tanguilig is also No.3 in the ITA doubles rankings alongside partner Susanna Maltby. Brantmeier ranks No. 15 with partner Alanis Hamilton in doubles play.
Freshman Claire Hill was named ACC Freshman of the Week on Jan. 14. Brantmeier was named ACC Player of the Week and Doubles Team of the Week alongside Hamilton on Feb. 4.

SCOUTING NO. 10 DUKE

The Blue Devils are ranked No. 10 in this week's ITA team rankings.
The ITA ranked three Duke players in the top 50 for singles - Irina Balus (No. 8), Emma Jackson (No. 27) and Eleana Yu (No. 31). Balus and Ellie Coleman also hold a ranking of No. 11 in doubles.
The Blue Devils are 14-0 all-time against the Orange.
Duke's only losses this season have come against ranked opponents, as the Blue Devils fell 4-3 to No. 5 Virginia and No. 17 Ohio State. Duke does hold a win against No. 6 Michigan, 4-3.
Before playing Syracuse, Duke will face Boston College on Friday, Feb. 21. The match will be Duke's first ACC opponent.
Balus earned ACC Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28 and most recently on Feb. 18.

UP NEXT
The Orange are back at Drumlins Friday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. against Miami, followed by a matchup against Florida State on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Drumlins Country Club.

For all the latest news on the Syracuse tennis program, follow /CuseTennis on Facebook, @CuseTennis on Instagram and @Cuse_Tennis on Twitter.