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In Syracuse’s 4-0 loss to No. 3 North Carolina, its No. 3 doubles pairing of Monika Wojcik and Serafima Shastova beat Tatum Evans and Thea Rabman 6-1. However, against UNC’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, which are both ranked, the Orange lost. This sparked SU’s 4-0 defeat.

Two days later, hosting Duke, Syracuse head coach Younes Limam shuffled his pack, pairing Miyuka Kimoto and Nelly Knezkova together for the first time. They faced Duke’s Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus, who are the No. 11-ranked doubles pairing in the country.

“We gotta be flexible, adjustable and be ready to go … We know we have quality players in our team to play at a very high level in doubles,” Limam said.

Limam’s adjustment worked, with Kimoto and Knezkova defeating the Blue Devils’ tandem 6-3. However, the win was canceled out when Wojcik and Shastova, who moved up to the No. 2 doubles, lost 6-3 and Anastasia Sysoeva and Shiori Ito lost in the No. 3 doubles. This helped No. 10 Duke (8-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) take an early lead versus Syracuse (7-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) that it never relinquished.

Sunday showed that Syracuse, especially its top singles and doubles teams, could compete against ranked opponents on its day.

“They know they’re capable of competing against anybody in the country,” Limam said.

Yet, Syracuse has failed to show a complete performance from top to bottom in its opening ACC games. Kimoto and Knezkova’s performance is the model.

The pair took the first game but fell behind 40-0 in the second game to Coleman and Balus, who were NCAA Doubles All-Americans in the fall. However, Kimoto’s strong hit proved unreturnable and tied the game at 40-40.

Still, Duke won the second game, yet Kimoto and Knezkova didn’t falter. Coleman’s backhand sailed into the net, and Kimoto’s serve led to Balus’ backhand landing out of bounds, which gave the pair a 2-1 lead.

But again, Duke came storming back and took the next two games. Knezkova’s forehand didn’t clear the net, leading to a 30-0 lead for Duke. Syracuse brought it back to deuce, an area the Orange struggled on Friday, but Kimoto’s backhand fell short to give the Blue Devils an advantage before they won the game, tying the set 2-2.

“(In the No. 1 doubles), we lost three games that were deuce, so it could have gone a little bit different,” Limam said after the loss to UNC. “Our goal was to make things close and put a little bit more pressure on them. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short.”

After Duke took a 3-2 lead, Coleman rose to reach the ball above the net and spike it down to tie the game 15-15. Back-to-back serve return errors by Coleman and Knezkova had the two sides knotted 30-30. Coleman’s backhand then put the game at deuce.

Knezkova was the first to react to the serve and played a shot across the net. Coleman tried to exchange the favor with a delicate hit, but it proved too light to get over the net.

“It doesn’t matter who is on the other side, as long as you communicate with your partner, have a positive mindset and you just enjoy the game, then you can really do amazing things,” Knezkova said.

From there, the Orange had full control of the match. The seventh game saw the Blue Devils scoreless. Knezkova’s ill-timed slice put Coleman and Balus at game point, but errors from Duke’s No. 1 doubles team gave SU a 5-3 lead.

Kimoto gave the Orange a lead, but her errant backhand tied it 15-15. An ace by Knezkova was then offset by a missed spike. Kimoto’s forehand at the net didn’t travel over it, and suddenly Knezkova and Kimoto were down 40-30.

But SU fought back before an ace by Knezkova helped give the Orange their first doubles win over a ranked opponent.

Later on, Kimoto also won against No. 8 Balus in the No. 1 singles match. But Sysoeva’s loss to No. 27 Emma Jackson in the No. 3 singles clinched a 15th straight Blue Devils victory over the Orange.

Against Duke, SU seemed to have found its best double-pairing even though it came up “a little bit short” in another ACC matchup.

Published on February 23, 2025 at 5:44 pm

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu