Syracuse University
West Virginia
BIG EAST Tennis Preview: Part One
4/14/2009 3:37:44 PM | Tennis
Tournament Central | 2009 BIG EAST Tournament Bracket
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse women's tennis team received the seventh seed in the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament. The Orange earned a date with 10th-seeded West Virginia on Thursday, April 16 at 9:00 a.m. in the first round. Just like last year, the conference tournament will be hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. The winner of the SU-WVU matchup will take on second-seeded DePaul on Friday, April 17 at 9:00 a.m.
Record-Setting Season
In just his third year at the helm of the SU tennis program, head coach Luke Jensen led his team to a 15-5 (.750) record, indicating the best regular season mark in program history since dual play took precedence in the BIG EAST. In 2005-06, the Orange went 14-5 (.737) in the regular season, finishing up with a 16-8 mark. The 1992-93 team put forth a 16-4 (.800) mark, but both fall and spring play was conducted in tournament format. Syracuse went undefeated during the 1978-79 season with a 10-0 (1.000) overall record.
Along with Jensen's benchmark this season, the tennis program reached the 300-win plateau on March 20 with a 6-1 victory against Connecticut at the Drumlins Tennis Center. The overall Orange tennis record is 306-261 (.540) leading up to the BIG EAST Tournament.
Home Sweet Home
Even though the Orange endured a five-match road swing to close out the regular season, Syracuse thrived within the confines of Drumlins this season. The Orange went 7-1 in the Salt City with wins against Niagara (7-0), Binghamton (6-1), Buffalo (5-2), Massachusetts (6-1), Cornell (4-3), Connecticut (6-1) and Providence (7-0). SU's lone loss came against Iowa State (4-3) on Feb. 22.
In the last three years under Jensen's direction, Syracuse has assembled a 20-5 record with only two losses in as many years at Drumlins.
The Orange boasted a strong 8-4 record on the road this season, as well. Syracuse topped Colgate (7-0), Cincinnati (5-2) and West Virginia (6-1) in the early goings and capped the regular season portion with five-straight victories at Villanova (7-0), Pittsburgh (6-1), Georgetown (7-0), Seton Hall (5-2) and St. John's (5-2).
BIG EAST Beasts
Syracuse romped through conference play with a 9-2 (.818) record this season. Syracuse owns the second-best league winning percentage, right behind No. 4-ranked Notre Dame (3-0 / 1.000) in the standing. The Orange's nine BIG EAST wins is tops in the league while Rutgers finished second behind SU with eight victories.
Double the Fun
One of Jensen's biggest keys to victory is establishing some early momentum in the first part of the match. The Orange won 17-of-20 doubles opportunities this year (doubles action precedes singles play). SU won 45-of-60 (.750) doubles matches, including a 23-10 mark in the BIG EAST. Freshman Emily Harman and sophomore Christina Tan paved the way for the Orange at the No. 1 doubles slot with a 16-4 overall record. The junior tandem of Chelsea Jones and Ashley Spicer held their own in the No. 2 position with a 15-5 mark while the No. 3 team of sophomore Simone Kalhorn and freshman Alessondra Parra went 11-6 on the year.
Previous Playoff Picture
The Orange finished tied for seventh with Rutgers in last year's BIG EAST Tournament. Syracuse dominated 11th-seeded Connecticut in the first round of action, 4-2, before suffering a 4-0 setback against USF and losing to St. John's in SU's final match, 4-2.
Syracuse was tabbed the six seed in the previous two BIG EAST Tournaments.
Round Two with West Virginia
Syracuse and West Virginia will meet up for the second time this season in the first round of the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament. West Virginia sports a 9-15 overall record, 4-3 in the BIG EAST.
The Mountaineers emerged victoriously in two out of their last three conference meetings. WVU closed out its regular season slate with a 5-2 win against UConn on April 5. West Virginia swept Georgetown in Washington D.C., 7-0, with a 6-1 loss at home to Rutgers sandwiched in between the two wins.
In the first meeting this season, Syracuse closed out its first road swing of the season with a 6-1 win in Morgantown, W.Va. at the Ridgeview Racquet Club on Feb. 7. Despite losing the doubles point on the first occasion of the season, the Orange made quick work out of WVU in the singles component, earning one of its seven singles sweeps of the year.
Scouting the Rest of the Tournament
No. 4-ranked Notre Dame has won the regular season BIG EAST Championship in three of the last four seasons. The No. 4-ranked Fighting Irish have been a part of the tournament title match in all 13 years as a member of the BIG EAST and will be vying for their eighth championship. ND's No. 1 tournament seeding marks the 13th time in 14 instances where the Fighting Irish has earned top billing.
Along with the Irish's first-round bye, No. 41-ranked DePaul, South Florida and Marquette all earned a free pass into Friday's second round and are the second, third and fourth seeds, respectively.
Eighth-seeded Cincinnati and ninth-seeded Pittsburgh will play alongside SU and WVU at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday. Following those two matches, fifth-seeded Rutgers tangles with 12th-seeded Connecticut and sixth-seeded Louisville meets up with 11th-seeded St. John's at noon.
