This weekend is about rebounding for the Syracuse tennis team. After a disheartening 6-1 loss at Boston University last Sunday, SU needs to get back on track.

It was the second time this season that the Orange has been dominated by a nonconference opponent. Hopefully, though, the emotional response is the same this weekend.

‘We’ve had worse losses,’ SU head coach Luke Jensen said. ‘We lost to Maryland 7-0 earlier. But we didn’t play that bad. We played bad against Boston. We tried hard, we competed well, but we just did not bring the same type of execution that I’ve been seeing in other matches and in practice.’

But if the team can harness its focus like it did in the matches following that tough loss to Maryland, SU will be just fine. Last time, Syracuse responded with a six-match win streak. This time, against Big East rivals Villanova and West Virginia, a comparable response can get the team back on track and continue its run atop the Big East.

Neither the Wildcats nor Mountaineers hold daunting records, but as junior Alessondra Parra knows, there is no looking past conference matches.

‘They want to beat us,’ Parra said. ‘We’re competitive with them too. It’s about pride. We want to show them that we’re better.’

These Big East matches will affect seeding in the conference tournament that looms two months away. Luckily for Jensen, the Orange seems to play best against Big East opponents. Syracuse enters the weekend with a 17-match regular-season winning streak against conference competition.

And at a time when his team is in need of a momentum-boosting win, that can’t hurt. Freshman Maddie Kobelt recognizes this weekend’s opportunity as well.

‘It’s really important for us to come out 2-0 from this weekend because it’ll make us undefeated in the Big East,’ she said. ‘That will give us a better seeding in the Big East tournament.’

Despite the recent conference success, though, Jensen knows the cutthroat mentality of both opponents this weekend. Based on the size of the conference —16 teams — not everyone makes the Big East tournament. The teams that aren’t simply jockeying for positioning in the tournament are fighting perhaps harder just for a chance to get in.

‘You just can’t slip up,’ Jensen said. ‘… It’s just like the basketball out there, same with football. You can’t take the weekend off, because they’ll just burn you.’

The Orange has already taken down Georgetown, Seton Hall and Cincinnati this season in conference play, part of three straight conference wins after that demoralizing defeat to Maryland.

But SU may need victories in both matches this weekend to maintain its position as a frontrunner for a first-round bye in the conference tournament. At the end of the season, the top four teams are rewarded with having to play one fewer match.

Dominance in the Big East is important to Jensen’s squad, but the team has struggled against nonconference opponents this season. Look no further than Boston and Maryland. Currently looking to avenge its loss to Boston, the Orange has been extremely focused in this week’s practices.

Kobelt, who earned the lone point in the Boston match, said that the team isn’t getting down after the loss.

‘Stay positive and push ourselves harder to compete this weekend,’ she said.

The team emphasized tactical improvements, as well as morale improvements in the training sessions. Most notably, SU worked on power serving. Syracuse faulted on countless first serves last Sunday — a mistake that let Boston take control of the match.

Jensen knows that the Orange cannot make a championship run if it is unable to play its offensive style of tennis.

‘When you get your first serve in, it sets you up to be more offensive,’ Jensen said.

Frustrations like the Boston match, and SU’s 7-0 loss to Maryland earlier in the season, remind the team that they cannot afford to let up. To accomplish its goal of winning the Big East tournament, the Orange needs to stay focused and take each match one at a time.

‘We know we’re better, but we have to prove it,’ Parra said. ‘Of course there are things that have to be done in competition to finish out the points to beat our opponents and we want to show we can do those things.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on February 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1