Syracuse tennis coach Mac Gifford was searching for some inspiration, anything his team could use in the upcoming season. And he thought he’d found a solution.

Gifford planned on showing his team HBO’s ‘Do You Believe in Miracles?’ documentary about the U.S. hockey team overcoming the odds and defeating the Russians in the 1980 Olympics. Suddenly, though, he realized the video may cause an adverse reaction.

‘Well I’ve got a Russian on my team,’ Gifford said, ‘and the video also says some pretty bad things about the Czechs.’

That idea, for the time being, has been thrown out the window, and Gifford is still searching for a way to convince his team that it is capable of pulling off surprises like the 1980 U.S. hockey team did.

Syracuse hosts Colgate for the first meet of the season tomorrow, the first match of what could become the Orangewomen’s “miracle season.”

SU is talented enough to compete in the Big East, but nothing will come easy. Alongside seniors Masha Kabanova, of Russia, and Daniela Kaluskova, of the Czech Republic, the team also boasts two Norwegians (sophomores Kristine Bech Holte and Trine Lise Juliussen) and a Malaysian (Wei-Ming Leong).

‘It’s like a modern U.N.,’ Gifford said.

Yet unlike the ambassadors, communication among this group of players has never been an area of concern.

‘We get along extremely well,’ junior Alexa Konstand said. ‘We’re all very close.’

‘They get along too well,’ Gifford said. ‘It’s me against them. If I come out there with bad news, and they don’t like it, I’m in trouble.’

But Gifford realizes that cohesiveness has its advantages. It’s part of the reason why doubles competition is one of SU’s strengths.

Syracuse’s doubles teams played well in three fall exhibition tournaments, and the pair of Kabanova and senior Shervin Saedinia won the top flight bracket at the Brown Invitational.

Gifford used the fall to tweak his players’ serves and grips and has seen marked improvement.

But Kaluskova isn’t convinced yet.

‘We haven’t had any (regular season) matches,’ Kaluskova said, ‘so it’s hard to say what (else) we need to work on.’

Gifford’s current concerns are team confidence and singles play.

‘We got a lot of good practice in,’ Konstand said. ‘We’re just ready to start playing.’

The players will find out how ready they actually are tomorrow. At this point, though, their minds appear to be full of nothing but hope.

And Gifford feels that with some good luck and a little confidence, SU can fulfill those hopes.

‘I see us having some tough matches this season,’ Gifford said. ‘Are we expected (to do well) by anybody else? No. But we’re doing this to (try and) beat the big guys. And we’re going to do it.’

Published on January 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm