TENNIS : SU seniors lead way in win over Connecticut
Photo/Mark Nash
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Every player on the Syracuse tennis team heads into her individual match with an added goal: win the ‘boat race.’
As SU head coach Luke Jensen tells it, the boat race is the competition to be the first one to earn a victory in singles play. And in Saturday’s 7-0 Senior Day victory over Connecticut in Drumlins Tennis Center, two seniors battled for the win in the boat race.
Senior co-captain Christina Tan won the boat race, easily dominating her opponent 6-0, 6-1. Fellow co-captain Simone Kalhorn came a close second, winning 6-1, 6-1. However, senior Jacquelynn Tang, who did not play in the match, jokingly told her coach that she was the real winner because she was off the court the entire time.
‘C-Tan won the boat race and Kalhorn finished second,’ Jensen said. ‘But JT in the huddle reminded me that she was the first one off, and she didn’t even break a sweat. So in her mind, she’s playing. She’s out there and she’s ready to go.’
It was part of the theme of domination for the senior class on the day reserved for them. Tan and Kalhorn led the Orange to its first two singles victories, while Tang provided support from the bench. All season long, Tang, Tan and Kalhorn have comprised a trio of leaders that helped the Orange to a 16-6 record. Most recently, they led SU to an easy win over a Big East rival in its regular-season finale.
Though Syracuse failed to drop a set against UConn, it was the seniors who got the team out to a fast start. Kalhorn and freshman Aleah Marrow won the No. 2 doubles match, 8-5. Tan and junior Alessondra Parra impressed with an 8-3 victory at the No. 3 spot. Tan and Kalhorn carried that momentum into singles play, where both earned lopsided victories.
Walking off those courts at Drumlins for the last time, Tan was immediately greeted by Tang.
‘She really just came over and said good job on winning the boat race,’ Tan said. ‘She’s just as important as any other person on this team. She’s always there supporting us. I can hear her when I’m playing on the last court, farthest away from her.’
And after Tan’s quick finish, she and Tang did not have to wait long on the sidelines before Kalhorn joined them.
Kalhorn’s play in the match spoke volumes of the lengths she’s traveled in these four years. She utilized her full arsenal of shots to win the match after noticing her opponent was easily thrown off kilter.
‘She didn’t have too high of a shot tolerance,’ Kalhorn said. ‘I was making her move a lot, putting in a lot of drop shots and righty and left serves. She didn’t like the lefty serve.’
All three of those seniors have learned how to use both right-handed and left-handed serves over the course of their four years at Syracuse. And on Tuesday at noon, they leave for another ‘last’ in their careers — the Big East tournament in South Bend, Ind.
For the seniors, it has been a week of lasts. Their last home match came Friday. Their last home practice was Monday. And starting Thursday, it will be their last tournament season.
Jensen and his squad are hoping for a conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Before that, though, he took time to reflect on four years of accomplishment from the seniors that led his squad to victory Friday.
‘It’s bittersweet,’ Jensen said. ‘No one will ever at this program have to go through what they went through. The body of work they’ve put in on and off the court has been absolutely phenomenal, and I will just never forget the Class of 2011.’