Trailing 3-0 and 40-15 in her opening set against Georgia Tech’s Rasheeda McAdoo, Syracuse’s Rhiann Newborn backpedaled to hit a backhand groundstroke. The shot hit the top of the net and dribbled back toward Newborn, causing SU’s third singles player to stare at the ground before swinging her racket against the air.

The sequence summed up a day that saw unforced errors plague Syracuse (8-12, 3-11 Atlantic Coast) throughout its 5-2 loss to No. 25 Georgia Tech (13-8, 9-5) at Drumlins Tennis Center on Sunday.

“I thought we played a complete match,” head coach Younes Limam said. “I thought we fought really hard from start to finish. Unforced errors are just a part of tennis.”

The trend started in doubles play. Down 7-4 in the eight-game pro set, the doubles team of Komal Safdar and Valeria Salazar had two opportunities at game point. They squandered both by making unforced errors, first at 40-30 and later at advantage. Georgia Tech’s Paige Hourigan and Kendal Woodard ultimately won the set and thus the match.

Two courts to their left, Syracuse’s Breanna Bachini and Nicole Mitchell trailed 6-5 to McAdoo and Johnnise Renaud. At 30-30, Mitchell committed back-to-back unforced errors by hitting a volley long and a return into the net. Georgia Tech then took the next game to win the match, 8-5.

In singles play, Newborn rebounded after trailing 4-0 by winning two games. But trailing 4-2, she hit two consecutive forehands into the net, falling into a 5-2 hole that proved to be insurmountable.

“I hate making unforced errors,” Newborn said. “It’s the worst thing, because you give away games and you give away too many points.”

On the court to Newborn’s right, Amanda Rodgers was struggling with unforced errors. In a crucial spot at 3-3 in the first set, Rodgers hit two straight shots into the net to begin the game. The senior paused and yelled to herself, “Stop hitting it into the net!”

Unable to follow her own directions, she hit another shot into the net while trailing 40-15, allowing Renaud to take a 4-3 lead in the set. Rodgers won the next three games to take the set, but unforced errors again troubled her in the second. Down 5-3, she committed five of them in one game and lost the set, 6-3.

“I was making unforced errors because I felt a little rushed from her game,” said Rodgers, a former contributing writer for The Daily Orange. “She hit the ball really hard and flat… and there was nothing I could do about it. So I just had to weather the storm.”

Rodgers limited those errors in the third set, which she won 7-5 to secure the match. Her teammates also played three set matches, but were not as fortunate.

After splitting the first two sets with Hourigan at second singles, Salazar trailed 5-2 and was down match point in the third set when she hit a forehand into the net, dropping the set.

Against Natasha Prokhnevska at fourth singles, Bachini won the first set, 6-1. She trailed 6-5 and 30-40 in the second set when she hit a backhand into the net, sending the match to a third set.

Later down match point in the final set, Bachini hit a forehand wide from the baseline. She placed her hands on her head as Prokhnevska celebrated, having just won the match, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Limam watched from court three, where Rodgers was still playing, as Bachini’s match finished. Syracuse had lost its final regular-season match, one full of unforced errors.

Said Limam: “Sometimes when you’re aggressive, you’re going to make a few errors.”

Published on April 19, 2015 at 4:38 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu