Syracuse tennis wins 2nd straight, beats Fordham 6-1
SU tennis beat Fordham 6-1 Sunday. The Orange faltered at times, dropping a doubles and singles match, but still pulled off the victory. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse tennis couldn’t have asked for a better start to its 2026 season. The Orange swept Cornell 7-0 to start the campaign on Saturday.
And, while the Orange weren’t as dominant Sunday, they continued the weekend with a convincing win. Syracuse (2-0, Atlantic Coast) beat Fordham (1-1, Atlantic 10) 6-1 Sunday. The Orange faltered at times, dropping a doubles and singles match, but still pulled off the victory.
Syracuse carried Saturday’s momentum right out of the gate. After sweeping in doubles against Cornell, Syracuse found itself tied 1-1 early in each of its three doubles matches.
Eventually, the duo of Nelly Knezova and Anastasia Sysoeva was able to pull away, winning 6-3 in decisive fashion. Sysoeva hit a powerful shot at Kolarevic early in the match, putting Fordham on the defensive and swinging the momentum in the Orange’s favor. Knezkova sealed the first match of the day for Syracuse with a slight shot across the net, which Fordham was unable to return.
No. 2 doubles ended with the same score. Monica Wojcik and Serafima Shastova battled to a 4-3 lead, eventually taking control and winning the match 6-3. The win sealed the doubles point for Syracuse, giving it the advantage going into singles.
“I think playing more college tennis you realize how important the doubles point is, and it does carry into singles,” Wojcik said.
No. 3 doubles was the first real sign of trouble for Syracuse this season. Leena Bennetto and Constance Levevier were tied 4-4 with Fordham’s Catalina Padilla and Paola Dalmonico through eight games.
Things quickly unraveled for the Syracuse pairing. They were only down 6-5 after 11 games, but were unable to regain control, falling 7-5 in Syracuse’s first lost match of the season.
The Orange fought hard in six back-and-forth singles matches, featuring long rallies that exhausted the players. Head coach Younes Limam was still happy with Syracuse’s performance.
“It was another match where we got tested, I’m really pleased with how we bounced back from yesterday,” Limam said.
In No. 4 singles, Wojcik was the definition of dominant, cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory less than an hour after singles play began. Wojcik has been one of the more consistent pieces for Syracuse so far, and will surely be utilized as an important piece going forward.
It was a while before the Orange won their next match, when Knezkova dispatched her opponent in straight sets and put the Orange on the brink of victory, giving them their third point of the day.
In the No. 6 singles match, Haram Kim went down 5-2 in the first set before winning five games in a row, pulling off a comeback. She played the second set with the same intensity, winning 6-4. Her win gave Syracuse its fourth point and sealed its second victory of the weekend.
Similarly, Sysoeva came back from a three-game deficit, tying her opponent at 5-5 before winning the match 7-6, 6-3.
Newcomer Leena Bennetto lost the only singles match of the day for Syracuse. She split the first two sets, winning the second 6-3. She then lost in a third set to Fordham’s Aya Matsunaga. She struggled through both doubles and singles, losing both matches she took part in.
The best match of the afternoon, and perhaps the weekend, was between Syracuse’s Serafima Shastova and Fordham’s Nevena Kolarevic. The two battled, sending backhand shots across the court amid deep rallies.
Shastova unleashed a powerful overhead shot early in the second set, maintaining her momentum after winning the first set 6-3. However, it didn’t stay with her for long. Shastova was visibly upset after dropping to 4-1 in the second set, and Kolarevic took advantage, winning 6-1 and forcing a late third set.
The match grinded on, with the players trading strikes across the net. As the other matches wrapped up, Shastova and Kolarevic eclipsed the two hour mark until Shastova was finally able to pull away, winning by 7-5.
Regardless of the back-and-forth matches, Syracuse was able to win its second contest of the young season. The Orange hope the momentum will carry over to matchups with two NCAA Tournament squads next week in Florida International and Florida Atlantic.
“We’re looking forward to a very tough weekend, and we’re looking for that challenge.”
