The Syracuse tennis team had a 4-3 record, was undefeated in Big East play and undefeated at their home court going into this weekend’s play. However, head coach Luke Jensen decided to rearrange the doubles partners in order to create a winning formula.

It worked as Syracuse won two of its three weekend matches. The Orange defeated Seton Hall, 7-0, at Drumlins Country Club on Saturday and on the road at Connecticut, 6-1, on Sunday. SU lost at Cornell, 4-3, in the first match of the weekend on Friday.

The weekend’s results, which improved Syracuse (6-4) to a perfect 4-0 in the Big East, were thanks in large part to the Orange’s 6-3 doubles record on the weekend.

‘We were getting off to a slow start (to the season),’ Jensen said. ‘It wasn’t anything specific that made me change the pairings; we shook it up a little bit. I’m so confident in every player we have on this squad playing anywhere in the lineup.’

Against Seton Hall (0-2, 0-1) on Saturday, the new No. 1 doubles pair, Ashley Spicer and Simone Kalhorn, defeated the Pirates’ Amanda El-Tobgy and Danielle Viola, 8-2. Syracuse swept the three doubles matches, giving the Orange a vital 1-0 lead going into singles play. Spicer and Kalhorn set the table again on Sunday, starting the day with an 8-4 win over the Huskies (1-2, 0-2) No. 1 doubles pair.

‘We came out and pounced on them in the first few games,’ Spicer said. ‘After that it is a mental battle, and we won that today. We kept finishing the ball off, and they weren’t able to come back after that.’

Jensen started the week off with the new doubles partners playing together in practice to prepare for the switch during the weekend.

Spicer felt her old partner, Jacquelynn Tang, and she had more complementary styles of playing; Spicer being the enthusiastic aggressor and Tang being the calm collected one.

‘Ashley and Simone definitely have more similar styles of playing,’ Jensen said. ‘They hit the ball hard, are power players. Normally in successful double teams, opposites attract, but Ashley and Simone have this aggressive element, and we are trying to take their raw emotion and make them the top doubles team.’

Tang and new partner Maria Vasilyeva recorded a 2-1 record on the weekend, as did Christina Tan and Chelsea Jones.

On the singles side, Spicer won her seventh singles match in eight games. Spicer’s 7-2 record on the singles side is a team best. Freshman Christina Tan continued to play at the number one position and defeated Seton Hall’s Denise Liebschner 6-3, 7-6, (7-1).

Syracuse was just one match away from having a perfect weekend. On Friday, Jones lost the contest’s final match, giving the Big Red (3-0) a narrow, 4-3 win.

‘When it comes to doubles we are constantly mixing up the combinations seeing who meshes best with whom,’ Jensen said. ‘When it comes to singles, you earn your way to the top. If you beat everyone else on our team, you play at No. 1.’

The Orange started a seven-game road tour Sunday with a 1-4 record away from Drumlins, so if switching the doubles pairs around is the answer, it came at the right time.

‘Even though we lost to Cornell, we were extremely competitive the entire match. A lot of that had to do with the switching of the doubles teams,’ Jensen said. ‘It was a good decision because the players are looking more confident, their body language is more comfortable in every set and we don’t feel the need to keep the roster in a set form.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on February 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm