Komal Safdar isn’t ready to let Syracuse’s success against West Virginia in recent seasons determine her feelings going into this weekend’s match against the Mountaineers.

Even though the Orange beat WVU 6-1 in Morgantown, W.Va., last year and 7-0 at home the year before, she still sees West Virginia as a dangerous team.

“They’re going to bring a fight,” Safdar said, “and we have to bring the fight back.”

Safdar and SU (1-5) will get that chance when the Orange hosts the Mountaineers (1-1) at Drumlins Tennis Center on Saturday at 10 a.m. Syracuse goes in facing a team with far less experience thus far in the season. The Mountaineers have only played two matches, losing to Ohio State and beating Marshall. Both teams, though, are challenged by the lack of experienced players on both rosters.

The Mountaineers carry only two seniors, Emily Mathis and Audrey Wooland. The other five players are underclassmen. Three of them are freshmen.

Syracuse’s players aren’t much older. The Orange doesn’t have any seniors, something the coaches realized at the start of the season.

“The leadership was something that we were concerned about earlier,” assistant coach Shelley George said. “I think that over the course of some of the adversity they’ve faced this past month in the competition they’ve really bonded as a team and as a unit.”

Syracuse has faced plenty of that adversity, including injuries and a tough schedule. In the month of January alone, SU has played now-No. 22 Georgia Tech, South Florida and Georgia State. While the Orange fell in all of them, the losses still benefitted the team.

“They were really close matches,” said sophomore Amanda Rodgers. “Some of them were 4-3, we know we’re right there and we just need to push ourselves to the next level.”

The lack of senior leadership has been one of Syracuse’s biggest deficiencies this season. But the team has bonded and grown stronger without that presence.

“They’ve made a decision moving forward that it’s not about somebody as a senior out there leading them,” George said, “but they’re really leading themselves and organizing themselves as a group and moving forward.”

The Orange isn’t using the lack of seniors as an excuse for its 1-5 record. Although the team is young, it’s ready for the level of competition it faces in every match.

Safdar said it might even be an added bonus.

“Not having seniors is almost, in a sense, better because we’re all on the same level,” Safdar said.

Last season, the Orange finished 14-6. Currently at 1-5, Syracuse isn’t where it wants to be in order to repeat another strong season. Against West Virginia this weekend, a team Syracuse has played well against in recent years, the Orange has a chance to start turning the season around.

Regardless of a lack of experience, Syracuse remains optimistic that it can put together a strong season.

Said George: “We’re going to see some great things happening here in the next couple months.”

Published on January 31, 2013 at 12:15 am

Contact Danny: dacuneo@syr.edu