Women’s Tennis Hosts Cornell To Open 2025 Season

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse University women's tennis team begins its 2025 spring season by hosting Cornell on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 5:30 p.m. at Drumlins Country Club.

SYRACUSE VS. CORNELL BRIEFING
Match Details: Jan. 22, 2025 | Syracuse, N.Y. | Drumlins Country Club | 5:30 p.m.
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Live Scoring: Click here
Twitter: @cuse_tennis
Instagram: @cusetennis
Syracuse Links: Notes | News | Schedule | Roster
Cornell Links: News | Schedule | Roster
*Free pizza will be available for fans in attendance.

ABOUT THE ORANGE

Syracuse is coming off a 10-11 campaign in the 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.

SHASTOVA MAKES NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Shastova won the singles event at ITA New England Regionals on Oct. 10-15, becoming the fourth 'Cuse player to do so under Limam.
The sophomore won six matches to take the title, including a three-set final. With the title, Shastova secured a spot in the singles competition at the NCAA Individual Championships.
Last season, Kimoto competed in singles at the NCAA Individual Championships, reaching the round of 32. Anna Shkudun (2016), Gabriela Knutson (2018-19) and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (2021) have also competed in singles at the NCAA Championship under Limam.
Click here to read more about her Regional title.

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.

2024 SPRING SEASON IN REVIEW

The Orange went 10-11 last season, with four of their victories coming against ACC opponents.
Syracuse went 6-1 in non-conference play, with the lone loss coming on the road against Columbia.
The highlight of the season for 'Cuse was a 4-3 victory over No. 8 North Carolina State at Drumlins, which Kimoto sealed with a victory at No. 1 singles in two tiebreak sets.
The Orange went 10-3 at Drumlins last season, which included a 7-0 start in home contests.
Sysoeva paced the Orange with 12 singles victories last season, seven of which came against ACC opponents. Polina Kozyreva (11) and Kimoto (10) also reached double-digit singles victories.
Kimoto was Syracuse's winningest doubles player last season with 11 victories, nine of which came at the top spot.
Along with Kimoto and Sysoeva, Ito and Levivier return from last spring's team. Ito won nine singles matches and six doubles decisions a season ago, with Levivier posting two wins in singles and four in doubles.

SYRACUSE IN SEASON OPENERS

Since 2015, 'Cuse has won 9 of the last 10 season openers, including each of the last three.
In those nine victories, the Orange have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 53-11.
Last season, the Orange swept Army, 7-0, in their season opener at Drumlins.
This will be the second time the Orange has faced the Big Red for their first match of a season. The last time was in 1999, a match the Orange won 6-3 at Cornell.

SCOUTING CORNELL

The Big Red is coming off an 8-14 record a season ago.
Cornell went 2-8 in true road matches last season.
The Big Red has an experienced roster consisting of three seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, and two freshmen.
Doubles team Sage Loudon and Jenny Wong enter the spring season No.123 in the ITA rankings.
Michelle Ryndin is coming off a stellar freshman campaign in which she led the Big Red with 14 singles victories.
Cornell returns four of its top five singles winners from last spring.
The Big Red is led by head coach Katie Zordani, who took over the program in 2022.
Syracuse went 5-1 against Cornell across singles and doubles at the Big Red Invite in the fall.

UP NEXT
The Orange returns to Drumlins Country Club for its first Saturday match against James Madison on Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. followed by another match Sunday Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. against Fordham at Drumlins Country Club.

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