Syracuse hopes to continue home success with Saturday doubleheader

Although the Drumlins Country Club is a couple of miles away from Syracuse University’s main campus, the longtime venue for SU tennis has always felt like home.

The Orange has amassed a blistering 44-4 record at Drumlins since the 2007-08 season, winning 20 of its past 22 matches in front of its loyal fan base.

“There is a certain fan that supports the Orange,” head coach Luke Jensen said. “There’s an energy and a passion that follows Syracuse athletics, and I think it starts with that aspect to it. Our players play better because of it. In other places where we go, it’s not the same. There aren’t the passionate fans that we have.”

Syracuse boasts a 4-1 record at home, though it fell to No. 64 Princeton 4-3 on Sunday. After starting the season 0-5 with all of its matches on the road, the Orange (5-7, 2-1 Big East) came home and promptly won four straight. SU will host Seton Hall at 10 a.m. on Saturday as the first half of a doubleheader. Syracuse will then host Providence at 2 p.m.

One reason Syracuse has done so well is because of Drumlins’ setup. Whereas many teams play outdoors or in quieter, more spacious indoor facilities, Drumlins features seven courts lined up adjacent to each other. Jensen said that close-quarters atmosphere helps play into the game Syracuse likes to showcase.

“It fits that game style,” Jensen said. “It’s very intimate. The baseline to the curtain I think is 15 feet, so there is not a lot of room to run if you’re a defender, so it’s a very close-up encounter with the other side. It fits into our style. If you look at our players, they’re very aggressive. They look to move forward. They look to hit a lot of winners.“

Much of the team is still just getting used to playing in Drumlins’ rare atmosphere. The Orange has no seniors on the roster, and seven of the nine players are underclassmen.

Aleah Marrow, a junior and one of the two most tenured players for the Orange, said it’s important for the younger players to understand the importance of taking care of your home court.

“We just basically straight up and tell them,” Marrow said. “Tell them to take care of this court. Take care of this house. We don’t want to have anybody come up in here and beat us.”

The other junior, Maddie Kobelt, said all of the positive experiences she’s had there have helped add to the home-court feeling of Drumlins.

“There’s just been so many great moments in Drumlins,” Kobelt said. “Whether we’ve beaten a team handily 7-0 or whether we’ve had to come from behind to win 4-3. Just the environment, like every time, whether it’s practice or a match, it’s that environment that we are all in as one. You really don’t feel that anywhere else.”

The Orange closes out the regular season with five straight on the road, but the next three contests all take place at Drumlins. Wins are especially crucial at this point in the season. That starts with Saturday’s doubleheader.

“Providence and Seton Hall are two conference competitors,” Jensen said. “They know us and we know them. I know their coach and their coach knows our style. It’s a tremendous challenge for us to step up after a loss and absolutely get back to the Syracuse way, which is loud, in charge and very aggressive.”