Amanda Rodgers, with a look of disbelief on her face, glanced at the chair umpire.

“Is that out?” she asked.

The umpire nodded, though it appeared Rodgers already knew the answer. Tied 5-5 in the first set against North Carolina State’s Joanna Nalborska, Rodgers had just double faulted a second straight point to send the game to deuce. A set she once led 3-0 seemed to be spiraling out of her control.

“I just tried to think about what I needed to do technically to make the serve again,” Rodgers, a former contributing writer for The Daily Orange said. “I was trying not to think about the score too much.”

Syracuse’s No. 1 singles player did make the serve again — twice. She won that game and later the set in a tiebreaker. And after Nalborska took the second set 6-1, Rodgers won the decisive third set 6-4, clinching the 5-2 win for the Orange (8-11, 3-10 Atlantic Coast) over the Wolfpack (10-14, 1-12) at Drumlins Tennis Center on Friday.

The momentum Rodgers gained by winning the opening set was quickly relinquished in the second, one Nalborska controlled start to finish. Throughout the set, Rodgers looked exhausted, often taking long breaks in between points. It showed in her play, as she committed a number of unforced errors.

Prior to the start of the third set, Rodgers sat on the bench next to head coach Younes Limam, who attempted to keep her spirits up.

“Thing I told her was just, ‘Let’s focus on the present. Let’s play one point at a time, and let’s not worry about what happened in the past,’” Limam said.

Much like she did in the first set after the back-to-back double faults, Rodgers rebounded, this time by winning the first three games of the set. The momentum again in her favor, she pumped her fist and yelled, “Let’s go!” after going up a double break at 3-0.

Once more, however, Nalborska had an answer, winning the next two games. As the players switched sides, a frustrated Rodgers slammed her racket against the bench.

Rodgers then lost a third straight game as fellow SU senior Komal Safdar watched on, having already won her match.

“They were both playing such high-level tennis that anyone could’ve won that match,” Safdar said. “… I was honestly biting my nails. I was pretty nervous.”

Safdar was joined by a few of Syracuse’s other players and the fans in attendance, who were now all focused on Rodgers’ match. They applauded with every point she won and groaned with each error.

As they watched, Rodgers, won two of the next three games to take a 5-4 lead. Just one game from winning her match, Rodgers had again overcome adversity.

“It says a lot about her mental toughness,” Limam said. “She has matured and she has become so much stronger mentally. It’s really neat to see. Even going back to last weekend, confidence is not high.”

The head coach was referring to Rodgers’ losses at Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, both of which came in three-set thrillers. But Friday was a different story.

Rodgers took a 15-40 lead on Nalborska’s serve in the 12th game, earning her first match point opportunity. And after a long rally, she seized the opportunity when she watched one of Nalborska’s shots sail long.

Rodgers squatted down, again pumped her first and screamed to herself before jogging to the net to shake hands.

“It definitely feels really good,” Rodgers said. “It feels even better to win a tight match.”

Published on April 17, 2015 at 7:39 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu