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Last year, Syracuse was impenetrable in nonconference play — something it tried continuing in 2025 against Fordham. The Orange dispatched Army, Fordham, St. Bonaventure and Cornell to start 2024.

Their only blemish was a 5-2 loss to Columbia, but they quickly followed up with a 4-0 win against UMass, starting their nonconference schedule with a 5-1 record. Following wins over Cornell and James Madison to begin the season, Sunday was another step forward.

Syracuse (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) swept Fordham (1-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10), securing its third straight win to begin the season. The Orange won all their matches behind head coach Younes Limam’s personnel changes.

“It’s really good for us to gain some confidence. We have a really good team,” Nelly Knezkova said. “We’re really supportive of each other. I’m really proud of every one of us because we did a good job and had fun and kept fighting.”

Against Fordham, Syracuse changed around its doubles personnel after dropping all three matches against JMU on Saturday. Anastasia Sysoeva teamed with freshman Monika Wojcik, while Sysoeva’s partner from Saturday, Miyuka Kimoto, partnered with Serafima Shastova. Knezkova joined forces with Shiori Ito. Freshman Haram Kim and Constance Levivier remained out of the doubles picture.

Limam’s doubles tinkering worked.

“The message was to really have a good start in the doubles, and I love the energy and how we took it to them in the doubles and carried that momentum into the singles,” Limam said.

Wojcik and Sysoeva jumped out to a 3-2 lead after Fordham took the first game and won the following three games. They constantly put pressure on Fordham’s duo, Lorraine Bergmann and Catalina Padilla Udaeta, who were out of place for easy points.

Ito and Knezkova, No. 96 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association doubles ranking, took a 4-0 match lead after Knezkova’s hit landed just inside the left sideline. From there, a double fault from Ito and Knezkova’s overcooked return gave the Rams a leeway back into the match at 4-2.

Ito’s delicate hit over the net put the Orange up 30-0 in the seventh game, and Kneznkova’s powerful serve took the pair within one game of winning the match. Yet, Julianne Nguyen and Aya Matsunaga stayed alive after they scored on a deuce to move the match to 5-3.

But three straight forehand and backhand returns from Knezkova at the net allowed the Orange to hold firm, earning them a doubles point.

“The message for the season is playing the ball, not playing the rankings or your opponent, and I think they’ve done a really good job with that,” Limam said. “In a tennis match or in any sport, you have the momentum, and if you take your foot off the gas, bad things start happening. I’m very pleased with how they competed.”

After the doubles point was secured, Shastova and Kimoto secured their 6-1 win against Sofie Siem and Lily Chitambar.

Limam opted not to include Kimoto — who is already 2-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles after finishing 39-15 overall last year — in singles and included Kim in her first collegiate match.

Kim, a South Korea native, joined the Orange last spring with a 20-16 ITF singles record, a 22-14 doubles record and a 2022 ITF junior doubles title. Her first singles match went back and forth.

She entered the fourth game with a 2-1 lead that later ballooned to 4-1 by the sixth game. However, Matsunaga stayed in touch with Kim. The Hillsborough Community College transfer took the next three games, tying it at four-a-piece before Kim’s forehand sailed out of bounds and gave her a 5-4 lead in the first set.

Limam, who watched Kim intently from the sidelines, sat down next to her on the bench and coached her through the match. When she returned to the court, she re-took control of the match, capitalizing on Matsunaga’s errors and a delicate hit that had Limam applauding from the sidelines.

Matsunaga and Kim exchanged rallies, with them both stationed toward the back of their side of the court until the junior’s return sailed out of bounds giving Kim a 7-5 first-set victory. In the second set, Kim maintained a lead, winning 6-3 on an ill-timed backhand from Matsunaga that went straight into the net.

“That was awesome to see Haram (Kim) there and just competing and working through the nerves,” Limam said. “Obviously, it’s nerve-wracking to get into that first college match but very proud of her. I think she stayed focused. She did a great job of managing her nerves and taking it to her opponent without rushing too much.”

Ito, Shastova, Wojcik, Levivier and Knezkova also picked up singles victories as the Orange did not drop a single set in doubles or singles play.

“We have a lot of depth in our team and I think it’s always really neat to have,” Limam said. “We know that anybody we can put out there, they’re going to go and compete hard and have the right mindset. Very pleased with how everyone showed up this weekend.”

Published on January 26, 2025 at 4:43 pm

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu