Syracuse stalls out in 6-1 loss to Florida Atlantic, suffers 1st defeat
Monika Wojcik was Syracuse’s lone player to win a singles match, while the Orange lost both of their doubles matches. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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The weather in Syracuse this week was a fitting allegory for SU tennis on Friday night.
The Orange (2-1, Atlantic Coast) were cold and lifeless against Florida Atlantic (2-2, American Athletic), falling 6-1 for their first defeat of the season. Syracuse’s doubles teams lost both their matches, while Monika Wojcik was SU’s lone singles player with a victory. The loss comes after the Orange picked up a pair of wins versus Cornell and Fordham, seemingly connecting in all facets.
On Friday, Syracuse fell behind early in doubles and never gained enough momentum to escape on top in its first road match of the season.
SU has struggled with doubles play in recent years, but after sweeping Cornell and dropping just one match to Fordham, Nelly Knezkova and Anastasia Sysoeva earned ACC Doubles Team of the Week honors. Their match against FAU ended prematurely, as the No. 2 and 3 matches were shut out in straight sets.
Syracuse’s No. 3 pairing of Constance Levivier and Leena Bennetto was blanked 6-0 by Malika Amirgaliyeva and Alexia Patru. Knezkova and Sysoeva agreed to finish their match while trailing 5-3 to Malwina Rowinska and Lara Smejkal following a 6-3 loss from Serafima Shastova and Wojcik.
The Orange’s thermometer plunged just as quickly in singles play, as they dropped the first set in four of their six matches. Bennetto lost the set 6-1, while Emma Scaldalai didn’t fare much better in her SU debut, dropping her opening set 6-2.
After Shastova and Wojcik joined their teammates in first-set defeats, Knezkova and Sysoeva picked up the Orange’s first points, winning their sets 6-4 and 6-3, respectively.
The slight uptick in heat was short-lived, though, as both of them would lose their second sets. Three of the matches didn’t reach past the second sets, as Shastova (6-2, 6-0), Scaldalai (6-2, 6-2), and Bennetto (6-1, 6-2) all lost in straight sets.
The Orange were unable to catch fire in their second sets, losing five of the six. Only Wojcik exited victorious, following a back-and-forth 6-4 win against Malika Amirgaliyeva.
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While the straight-set losses rendered the other half of the matches meaningless in terms of the score, those three produced the most fireworks, particularly Sysoeva, who fought valiantly but ultimately fell 10-7 to FAU’s Panna Bartha.
Wojcik, on the other hand, stayed hot after her triumph in the second set and dropped just one game, becoming Syracuse’s lone player to exit a match victorious (4-6, 6-4, 10-1).
SU has the opportunity to return to the win column on Sunday, as it travels further south to Miami to battle FIU. A win is crucial for the Orange if they hope to finish above .500 for the first time in three seasons.
