No. 10 Duke Closes Road Weekend with 4-1 Win at No. 32 Syracuse

Sunday, February 23

Syracuse, N.Y.

11:00 AM

Duke University

Syracuse

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

No. 10 Duke Closes Road Weekend with 4-1 Win at No. 32 Syracuse

2/23/2025 8:59:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The 10th-ranked Duke women's tennis team closed the opening weekend of ACC action with a pair of victories as the Blue Devils registered a 4-1 victory over 32nd-ranked Syracuse on Sunday at the Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse, N.Y.

After winning the doubles point, the Blue Devils received singles wins from freshman Ava Krug, senior Ellie Coleman and senior Emma Jackson. With Jackson's match-clinching win, she moved into a tie for fifth on Duke's all-time record book with 15 over her four-year career.

Duke improved to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the ACC, while Syracuse dropped to 7-2, 0-2

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Blue Devils opened the match with doubles wins on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to take the doubles point for the fourth-straight contest.
Duke's Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde teamed together for the first time this season and totaled a 6-3 victory on court three against Anastasia Sysoeva and Shiori Ito of the Orange. The Blue Devils never trailed and after being tied, 3-3, Jackson and Hovde won three-consecutive games to take the match.
After Duke's 11th-ranked duo of Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus dropped a 6-3 decision to Nelly Knezkova and Miyuka Kimoto on court one, the doubles point came down to court two.
For only the second time this season, the Blue Devil tandem of Shavit Kimchi and Eleana Yu teamed together and with the match tied, 2-2, with Monika Wojcik and Serafimi Shastova Duke went on a run winning four out of the next five games to clinch the doubles point.
In singles action on court five, Duke's Coleman won the first four games against Ito and then won the first set, 6-2. Coleman then won five-straight games, after the match was tied, 1-1, to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
On court No. 6, freshman Ava Krug went up against Wojcik. With Krug trailing, 3-2, in the first set, she went on a run winning four games in a row to claim the first set, 6-3. Krug, who is from Sarasota, Fla., found herself trailing again in the second, 3-2, but once again rallied to give Duke a 3-0 lead with a 6-3 win in the second.
Syracuse netted its first point of the day as Kimoto totaled a 7-5, 6-3 win over Duke's eighth-ranked Balus on court one.
On court two, Jackson collected her 80th career singles win in a Blue Devil uniform with a 6-4, 6-4 ledger against Sysoeva. Jackson, a native of La Grange Park. Ill., trailed, 2-1, in the first set, but went on to go ahead, 5-3. She eventually won the first set, 6-4. In the second, Jackson trailed again, 2-1, but won two games in a row to take a 3-2 lead. After the match was even, 3-3, Jackson won three out of the next four to clinch the 4-1 victory for the Blue Devils with a 6-4 win.
Duke's Hovde was leading Knezkova, 4-6, 6-3, 2-0, in the third set when the match was clinched, while Kimchi was trailing Shastova, 3-6, 5-6.

NOTES

Emma Jackson clinched a Duke victory for the 15th time in her Duke career, which ranks tied for fifth on Duke's all-time record charts. She also totaled her 80th overall singles win and 20th ACC victory of her career.
Senior Ellie Coleman collected her 71st singles win of her career and 18th ACC victory.
Rookie Ava Krug continued her host start to her collegiate career moving to 10-2 overall and 5-0 in dual match action. She improved to 2-0 in ACC play as well.
Duke moved to 15-0 all-time in the series with Syracuse.

QUOTES

"We played last weekend and took a little break before that, so it's good to get out there and compete.It was our first conference matches -- the success of our program has always been built on what we've done in the conference. So, it's good to get our conference season off to a good start. I thought we did a good job of continuing some of the success we've had in doubles, because we had struggled with that early in the year. We've won a couple doubles points in a row.So, just good things to build on and we're excited about that."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on getting two wins over the weekend
"Ava played both matches and got two wins for us, which was good.She didn't play in our last couple of matches in singles and played some doubles.I think it is important to get everybody as many matches as we can.It is going to take all eight of our team members to have a successful year.I thought she did a great job coming in and played those two matches and winning both."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on Ava Krug winning both her matches

NEXT MATCH

Duke will be off for a week, before traveling to Georgia Tech (March 7) and Clemson (March 9) to continue league play.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

#GoDuke

#10 Duke 4, #32 Syracuse 1
February 23, 2025
Drumlines Country Club * Syracuse, N.Y.

Singles
1. Miyuka Kimoto (SU) def. #8 Irina Balus (DUKE) 7-5, 6-3
2. Nelly Knezkova (SU) vs. Liv Hovde (DUKE) 6-4, 3-6, 0-2, unfinished
3. #27 Emma Jackson (DUKE) def. Anastasia Sysoeva (SU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Serafima Shastova (SU) vs. #76 Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) 6-3, 6-5, unfinished
5. Ellie Coleman (DUKE) def. Shiori Ito (SU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Ava Krug (DUKE) def. Monika Wojcik (SU) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. Nelly Knezkova/Miyuka Kimoto (SU) def. #11 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DUKE) 6-3
2. Shavit Kimchi/Eleana Yu (DUKE) def. Monika Wojcik/Serafima Shastova (SU) 6-3
3. Emma Jackson/Liv Hovde (DUKE) def. Anastasia Sysoeva/Shiori Ito (SU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2*); Singles (5,6,1,3*)