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Heading into its West Coast swing, Syracuse’s season was at a crossroads. After dominating its nonconference schedule, SU struggled against the conference’s elite to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play, scoring just one point combined against then-No. 3 North Carolina and then-No. 10 Duke.

It took every last minute of a match that spanned over three and a half hours for SU to claim its first conference win. Nelly Knezkova gave her team a lifeline with a heroic singles performance against Florida State.

On Friday, Stanford downed Syracuse in a match that was never in question. The Orange entered leg two of their trip to the Golden State desperately needing a victory, but Syracuse (8-5, 1-5 ACC) fell to California (5-4, 2-0 ACC) on Saturday for its second loss in as many days. SU showed more resistance in doubles play but faltered down the stretch. Its lone point came in No. 4 singles, where Cal’s Greta Greco Lucchina suffered a lower body injury and could not finish the match.

The Golden Bears were ranked No. 13 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Jan.6 rankings, but through eight games, the Golden Bears have plummeted to No. 72. Cal certainly does not lack talent; it has a top 50 ranked doubles pairing and three players ranked in singles compared to Syracuse’s one, according to the recent ITA rankings.

Against Florida State, corralling the doubles point was the difference in SU’s 4-3 win. Cal was just 2-6 in doubles heading into Saturday’s match. Claiming a doubles point could spur a potential SU upset.

Cal’s Greco Lucchina and Lan Mi jumped out to a 3-2 lead over SU’s Anastasia Sysoeva and Constance Levivier. Levivier made her third consecutive doubles appearance after previously not appearing in any action since Feb. 8.

Tied at 30-30 in the sixth game, Sysoeva and Levivier each managed a couple of acrobatic hits to keep the point alive, but Cal eventually took advantage of the SU duo’s positioning. On the following point, Cal met a Sysoeva return at the net and slotted it in between the SU pair to take a 4-2 lead.

From there, Greco Lucchina and Mi cruised to a 6-3 victory and claimed the first doubles match.

Serafima Shastova and Monika Wojcik continued the Orange’s doubles success, winning 6-4 after Shastova laced a backhand to the opposite side of the court where no Cal player was in the vicinity. The doubles point came down to Miyuka Kimoto and Nelly Knezkova in the No. 1 position.

Jessica Alsola and Mao Mushika blitzed the SU tandem for an early 2-0 lead. But Kimoto and Knezkova kept their composure to win the following three games and lead 3-2.

Tied at 4-4, Knezkova double faulted to take the match to deuce, and at deuce point, Knezkova couldn’t reach Cal’s return to give Alsola and Mushika a 5-4 advantage. At match point, Knezkova’s return landed short of the net, and Cal claimed its third doubles point of the season.

Shastova, facing off against Greco Lucchina, led 5-4 when the match was called after Greco Lucchina suffered a lower body injury. Shastova met Greco Lucchina on the sideline to concede the match for Cal.

Tied at 1-1, California took control. Kimoto, who had lost three straight singles matches entering Saturday, matched up against No. 40 Mushika.

Kimoto battled early, with Mushika’s return wide at the deuce point to even the set at 1-1. But Mushika surged to win the next five games and take the first set, 6-1. In a battle of the Japan natives, Mushika emerged victorious, sweeping Kimoto in the following set, 6-0.

Cal’s second singles victory was a near carbon copy of Mushika’s. Sysoeva led 1-0, but Mi won six out of the next seven games to take the first set, 6-2.

In the second set, Mi continued to make Sysoeva scramble around the court, and took a 4-0 lead as Sysoeva could not get enough racket on a lunging return that sailed wide. Mi eventually closed out Sysoeva, winning the second set, 6-2.

With the Orange trailing 3-1, they needed to win the remaining three matches. Shiori Ito, the lone Syracuse player to win a point against Stanford, trailed 3-1 in the No. 5 spot after Berta Passola Folch executed a clever dropshot that landed just in front of Ito’s outstretched arms.

Ito notched an ace in the sixth game, and Passola Folch’s return on the following point sailed long to even the match at 3-3. Passola Folch’s forehand fired past Ito as she took the first set, 6-4.

Just one singles set away from victory, the Spaniard throttled Ito in the second set for California’s second 6-0 singles sweep of the day and clinched the match 4-1.

Knezkova and Wojcik played out the remaining matches, with Knezkova falling to Alsola 6-2, 6-2, and Wojcik defeating Naomi Xu for the second time on the day.

Published on March 8, 2025 at 6:49 pm