After dropping the first set of her singles match, Masha Tritou found herself down 4-3 to Columbia’s Ali Pollack following a lunge for a ball nearing the left corner of the court. She motioned for a trainer. Her right arm was hurting.

Assistant athletic trainer Bradley Sammut came over to Tritou and started to massage her right arm. With no immediate update on her condition, the option of a forfeit became a possibility.

After a couple of minutes, Tritou stood up from the bench, broadened her shoulders and elected to keep the match going.

“(Sammut) put on this magic cream on my arm,” Tritou said. “The pain went away, so then I could actually focus on my match.”

Tritou raddled off three straight games and proceeded to beat Pollack 6-4 in the second set. With momentum on her side, Tritou controlled the third set en route to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory at fourth singles. Her victory clinched the deciding point for Syracuse (3-0) to beat Columbia (2-1), the team that handed SU its first loss last season.

The pain in her right arm began early in the second set. Instead of focusing on Pollack and the way she was hitting against her, Tritou starting worrying about the discomfort in her forearm, she said.

With little knowledge of how her teammates were competing, Tritou had to fight through the aches because she could be responsible for the outcome.

“I had no idea what the (team) score was,” Tritou said, “… so I kept trying to get back from one set down to win for them.”

Following the treatment, Tritou hit the ball into the net after Pollack hit a short hopper onto Tritou’s side of the court. The SU junior threw up her hands in frustration, but calmed herself down quickly.

Nearing the completion of a second set comeback, Tritou pinned a ball into the back right corner of the court past the outstretched arms of Pollack.

One fan screamed, “Finish her, finish her!” Tritou looked over and let out a big smile.

Midway through the third set, Tritou was cruising. She hit three consecutive forehand winners to get the double break and serve for the match.

For most of Tritou’s tough winners late in the match, she was eager to fist pump with the arm that caused her to fall behind early. Ultimately, she took the match convincingly in three sets.

“It was a tremendous fight,” coach Younes Limam said, “She kept fighting and found a way to clinch it for the team.”

Published on January 28, 2018 at 4:11 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman