Blue Devils Close Weekend with 4-0 Win Versus Syracuse

Sunday, February 22

Durham, N.C.

12:00 p.m.

Duke University

Syracuse

Photo by: Andy Mead

Blue Devils Close Weekend with 4-0 Win Versus Syracuse

2/22/2026 3:13:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. — The 19th-ranked Duke women's tennis team closed the weekend with its second ACC victory as the Blue Devils registered a 4-0 win over Syracuse inside the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center Sunday afternoon.

The Blue Devils won their 17th consecutive home match, while Duke moved to 8-2 overall on the season and 2-0 in the ACC. Syracuse dropped to 4-5, 0-2.

How It Happened

Duke was impressive in doubles action as Irina Balus and Aspen Schuman opened with a 5-0 lead against Serafima Shastova and Monika Wojcik on court two before winning the match, 6-1.
On court three, Duke's Liv Hovde and Ava Krug paired together for the first time this season and totaled a 6-2 ledger versus Leena Bennetto and Constance Levivier to clinch the doubles point for Duke.After being tied, 1-1, the Blue Devils won three games in a row to go ahead, 4-1.After dropping a second game, Hovde and Krug closed strong winning the match, 6-2.
Duke's 39th-ranked Claire An and Eleana Yu were in a ranked battle on court one against 20th-ranked Nelly Knezkova and Anastasia Sysoeva of Syracuse.The Blue Devils opened with a win on their serve and led 3-1, before the Orange came back to even the match, 3-3.When the doubles point was clinched, the contest was abandoned.
In singles action, Balus continued her stellar play winning her third match in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Shastova.In the first set, the match was even, 1-1, but Balus reeled off wins in four games in a row to take a 5-1 lead.She concluded the first set with a 6-2 victory.In the second, Balus broke Shastova and led 3-1.Shastova responded by evening the match, 3-3, but Balus won a key deuce point to break Shastova and go ahead, 4-3.Balus won the next two games to close the contest, 6-3.
Schuman, a rookie from Menlo Park, California, moved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC with a straight-set win, 6-3, 6-2, against Wojcik.After falling behind 1-0, Schuman took a 2-1, lead, but Wojcik evened the ledger, 2-2.Schuman then won four out of the next five games to win the first set, 6-3.In the second, she fell behind, 2-0, but won a very important deuce point to get on the board, 2-1.Schuman didn't lose another game registering the win, 6-2.
With Duke leading 3-0, the Blue Devils were ahead on the other four courts.
An, a freshman from Boca Raton, Florida, ended up clinching the Duke victory for the second match in a row on court five.She totaled a 7-5, 6-3 victory to close the weekend with her first two collegiate ACC wins.In the first set, An led 4-3, but Scaldalai battled back to go ahead, 5-4.An responded with a run of her own winning the next three games to take the first set, 7-5.An never trailed in the second totaling three break points and winning, 6-3.
When the match was clinched, Duke's Hovde was leading Sysoeva, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0, on court two.
Yu was ahead of Bennetto, 7-6 (7-3), 3-0, on court four and senior Katie Codd was leading Levivier, 6-2, 4-1.

Notes

Duke's 17-match home winning streak ranks tied for seventh-longest in program history.
The Blue Devils are now 16-0 all-time in the series history with Syracuse.
Duke is now four victories away from 1,000 in program history.
Irina Balus is now 29-17 over her career and has won seven out of her last eight matches.
Liv Hovde is now 12-1 all-time in ACC doubles play.
Claire An improved to 8-4, 2-0 in the ACC in singles play.

Quotes

"I just told them it was good for us in the sense that it was efficient and quick.We didn't waste time, waste matches, waste points.I felt like that we have to do that as we have a big weekend coming up and it was good to get off the courts quickly on both days."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"We talked about as a team – if you just look around in our building, the success of our program has been built on conference play.How we have handled ourself in the conference has kind of determined how what we have done at the end of the year in the postseason.The conference is as strong as it has ever been this year.I think we have to do what we can to put ourselves in a good position – every conference match is a tough match and just looking for to another one at SMU on Friday." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

Next Match

Duke will hit the road next week as the Blue Devils travel to SMU Friday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.

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

#GoDuke

#19 Duke 4, Syracuse 0
February 22, 2026
Durham, N.C. * Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center

Doubles

#39 Claire An/Eleana Yu (DU) vs. #20 Nelly Knezkova/Anastasia Sysoeva (SU) 3-3 unfinished
Irina Balus/Aspen Schuman (DU) def. Serafima Shastova/Monika Wojcik (SU) 6-1
Liv Hovde/Ava Krug (DU) def. Leena Bennetto/Constance Levivier (SU) 6-2