All season long, one glaring problem has stared the Syracuse tennis team in the face. The inability to win the doubles point has cost SU at least one match in the eyes of its head coach Luke Jensen. But probably more.

‘It’s just crushed us,’ Jensen said of the doubles point. ‘We win the doubles point, we beat USC. We win the doubles point against San Diego State, it gives us some momentum to maybe pull out those two three-setters.’

In each of its five losses — most recently to Southern California, San Diego State and Rutgers — the Orange (13-5, 6-1 Big East) has dropped the doubles point, which is awarded to the team that wins the best-of-three doubles matches. The winner of the doubles point takes a 1-0 advantage into singles play.

And as SU hopes to make a push toward winning the Big East tournament and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Jensen’s squad must find second and third pairings that mesh well with each other. Entering the singles matches with a deficit adds pressure to each of the six competitors and gives important momentum to the opponent right from the outset.

Associate head coach Shelley George referred to the United States Tennis Association and said whichever team wins the doubles point wins the match 85 percent of the time. Being on the negative side of those odds right away isn’t an easy feeling.

Emily Harman recognized the importance of the momentum from a doubles match. For her, entering a singles match leading by a point rather than trailing changes the whole complexion of the match.

‘Going into it, it gives me peace of mind,’ Harman said. ‘It gives me comfort knowing that our team has the momentum, so I don’t have to worry about bringing the team up. The attitude is there. Sometimes when you lose the doubles point, you get down emotionally, but this team definitely does very well getting back emotionally from that.’

Though Harman and Maddie Kobelt have been embarrassing opponents’ No.1 tandems — including USC’s squad, which is ranked seventh in the nation — the second and third pairings have disappointed. Often this season, the inability of the second and third doubles pairings to step up has cost the Orange.

In each of the last three matches, senior co-captain Simone Kalhorn and freshman Aleah Marrow have played in the No. 2 doubles spot. Senior co-captain Christina Tan and junior Alessondra Parra have manned the third slot.

Lately, the pairings have improved. Kalhorn and Marrow recorded a 3-0 record in their three matches this weekend, while Tan and Parra finished 2-1. However, each of these positions has been a rotating door as Jensen has experimented with different lineups.

Harman knows doubles pairings cannot be forced together. Certain players work better with some players and worse with others. That’s why she’s grateful she and Kobelt bonded instantly. This does not always happen the same way for other players.

‘For other doubles pairings, you have to play around with it,’ Harman said of finding a good pairing. ‘You’re not just going to put two together, and it’s going to be all right for the whole time.’

Effort hasn’t been the issue for the second and third pairings, but execution — or lack thereof — has been costly.

But Kobelt insisted she still has every faith in her teammates, despite the struggles at times this season.

‘I know they’re giving it their all,’ Kobelt said. ‘They’re competing with all their hearts and trying everything they can. I know that they’re competing at their hardest.’

Unfortunately for the Orange, trying hard only gets a team so far. For SU to compete with the likes of Notre Dame and DePaul in the Big East tournament, it must establish formidable No. 2 and No. 3 doubles pairings. And it must see results from those groups.

So Jensen will look to use the final month of the season to finally find some chemistry among his second and third doubles pairings. Though the struggles have been disheartening and costly so far this season, Jensen said time remains to correct those problems. And that should bode well for SU.

‘The bottom line is we’ve got time,’ Jensen said. ‘Do we have three solid teams by the time we hit Big Easts? If we do, we’ll be fine.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1