The most dramatic portion of Sunday’s dual-match against Pittsburgh didn’t even count toward the final score. It became the equivalent of an exhibition.

The Syracuse tennis team had secured the point awarded for the doubles portion of the match by winning the first two of the three doubles matches. This was the third.

Emily Harman and Chelsea Jones faced Pittsburgh’s No. 1 doubles team. Harman and Jones won the first game. But they were behind for the rest of the match until they won the final tiebreaker 7-2 in an 8-7 win.

Although the win didn’t affect the actual numbers, the meaningless win further put a damper on the Panthers’ performance. They completely lost their confidence from there on out.

Harman and Jones’ comeback victory secured the doubles sweep for SU. Their victory energized the team for the rest of the match as the Orange went on to sweep the singles as well. Harman and Jones’ win also helped mentally shut down the Panthers, who showed signs of frustration throughout the rest of the dual-match.

‘You could tell that the spirits were really lifted even though we’d won the doubles point,’ head coach Luke Jensen said. ‘Any time you can really sweep a team in doubles, you can really take that momentum into the singles. That was a big deal because you can see all of our results: a lot of 6-0 sets early on. We kind of just rolled them, which was fantastic.’

Jones was having trouble holding her serve in the first few games of the match. Jensen said this was the reason she and Harman were not able to pull ahead. Jensen’s doubles teams employ an aggressive style of play. To succeed with this strategy, the coach said players have to make their first two shots, serve included.

Pittsburgh was serving very well at the beginning, keeping Harman and Jones from getting the returns they needed. The tandem felt their main problem was execution.

‘We had to get the ball in play,’ Jones said. ‘We were just missing shots, very inconsistent in the first part of the match. We started concentrating and getting our energy up higher and started making the ball move, which was all we needed to do.’

Once they started making the shots they needed to, the energy level rose. The volume in Drumlins Tennis Center escalated and each point-winning shot the Orange hit was followed by a ‘Come on!’, a fist pump and an explosion of applause.

It was Pittsburgh’s serve with a 7-6 lead. A win would have ended the match, crushing Syracuse’s chances at a sweep. Pittsburgh’s Shannon Benic hit an overhead into the net to go down 30-0. When the ball dribbled back to her, she angrily smashed it across the court. Just after the ball hit the back curtain, the umpire called a point penalty for ball abuse. Syracuse now held a 40-0 advantage.

‘That was huge going right into the tiebreaker, and that was a big mistake on her part,’ Harman said. ‘If that was our team, they would pull us off the court.’

The free point was followed by another ball into the net by Pittsburgh, and the match was tied 7-7. Although tiebreakers usually occur at 8-8, the coaches decided to end the match sooner because the outcome had no bearing on the score.

Harman and Jones fell behind 2-1, but they said they were not concerned because tiebreakers can shift momentum so quickly.

‘Personally, I was excited,’ Jones said. ‘You switch servers every two points, which means that everyone has to be on top of their stuff to win that tiebreaker. It’s not up to one person to serve. I think tiebreakers are the most exciting, and I think we thrive on tiebreakers because we have a history of being down and coming back.’

The pair did not lose another point. SU secured the win when Benic hit the ball into the net, concluding the doubles with the final score of the tiebreaker 7-2, and the final score of the match 8-7.

Jones did not have a singles match following the doubles, but Harman went on to win the first set of her next match, 6-0. It was just one win that was apart of the growing dominance for SU on the day.

‘The momentum was the main thing,’ Harman said. ‘Going into the single knowing that you just pulled that out and that they’re kind of down in the dumps and you’re on top.’

alguggen@syr.edu