Komal Safdar was in familiar territory — a chance to secure a victory against a ranked opponent for the second time in the last 16 days.

This time, she was trailing by a point in the final set. Her facial expression remained the same throughout the match, and the junior never showed any signs of fear.

Instead, Safdar dominated the final set 6-1 en route to a win over Boston College.

“All six courts were in a battle,” Safdar said. “ I was just here feeding off my teammates’ energy and fighting hard.”

Safdar’s victory in the final set clinched a 4-3 victory for Syracuse (3-9, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) over Boston College (10-6, 2-4) at Drumlins Tennis Club on Sunday. With the singles match coming down to the third set, Safdar’s recent experience in a close match against Florida State on March 7 propelled her to a second consecutive win at home.

She began the match oozing with confidence after a convincing 6-2 win over Wan-Yi Sweeting in the first set. Syracuse interim head coach Shelley George believed that Safdar’s win against the Seminoles played a role in her success on Sunday.

“It helped her a ton. Anytime you can draw in what you’ve done in the past, of course it will help,” George said. “She really brought her game. She stayed aggressive and took it to her.”

Yet her opponent was not demoralized by a lackluster start. Sweeting immediately turned her attention to the second set and responded by winning 6-4, setting up a final set.

And Sweeting carried the momentum early in the last set by earning the first point. Safdar, though, would not be fazed by Sweeting’s surge and leaned on her triumph against FSU.

“I definitely was visualizing Florida State since it was a very similar situation,” she said. “It’s about dealing with the pressure, and playing for every point like it matters.”

Safdar embraced the opportunity to deliver another win in front of the home crowd. She won six consecutive points to end the match, and caught the attention of her teammates.

Maddie Kobelt thinks Safdar has excelled in pressure situations by staying calm and collected during matches in her career, most notably in the last two matches.

“Ever since she’s came here as a freshman, she has done an excellent job of composing herself and using the pressure in her favor,” Kobelt said. “She played her game, she fought to the last point, and really put pressure on her opponent.”

Syracuse now shifts its focus to North Carolina, a Top-10 opponent that boasts one of the premier rotations in the country. And the Orange is hopeful that Safdar will use her recent success in the ACC to become a difference maker next Sunday.

Safdar is convinced that her team will be focused during practice this week, and have plenty of motivation to fight for what would be the biggest win in program history.

“I know this entire team is very motivated to play (North Carolina)”, Safdar said. “It’s nice that we only have one match that weekend so all of our energy will go into that one match.”

Published on March 23, 2014 at 7:55 pm