Syracuse tennis gears up for 3 road matches in 3 days to end regular season
Thanks to St. John’s, it was all over. The Red Storm ended Syracuse’s 2008 season with a 4-2 win, knocking the Orange out of the Big East tournament.
So it is fitting that SU has a chance for revenge in its last match of this regular season.
‘We hate St. John’s,’ junior Chelsea Jones said. ‘They got us out of the Big East last year, so we’re going to give it to them.’
The Orange (12-5, 6-2 Big East) will close out its season this weekend with a three-day, three-match road trip to Georgetown, Seton Hall and St. John’s. Syracuse has won four-straight matches coming into the weekend.
Before the season began, Jones and fellow junior Ashley Spicer said they circled the St. John’s match on their calendars. That was more than two months ago. The team has come a long way since then, tested by tough road competition and a rigorous training program consisting of five-mile runs every morning.
This Syracuse squad has seen its share of highs and lows this season, starting with a seven-match winning streak followed by a four-match losing streak in the middle of the season. SU is now riding high, after dominating four-straight conference opponents.
Last week, Syracuse was looking for revenge against Pittsburgh, who beat the Orange in an emotional 4-3 match last season. Before the rematch this year, head coach Luke Jensen said it was important for the team to not look past any opponents or ahead to others.
‘It’s so easy, you hear it all the time from coaches, to look ahead at a revenge match, a payback match,’ Jensen said.
Syracuse will have to maintain that mentality this weekend and resist the temptation to overlook Georgetown and Seton Hall. The matchup with St. John’s looms large, but the two matches on Friday and Saturday are just as important.
The final three Big East matches of the season will be crucial for Syracuse in determining seeding for the conference tournament in two weeks in Tampa, Fla. The Orange is currently sixth in the conference standings and has a chance to put itself in better position for the Big East tournament with wins over three weaker rivals. ‘We’re very confident,’ Jones said. ‘It’s Big East and we’re so excited because the better we do against these opponents, the better our seed is going to be in the tournament.’
Published on April 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm
