The Bucknell women’s tennis team looked tired. The players weren’t running as fast as Syracuse and were grunting on and off the court. The Bisons had a doubleheader Saturday, and headed to play Syracuse yesterday at the Drumlins Country Club.

Syracuse took full advantage of their opponents’ weakness defeating Bucknell, 6-1. Jensen’s team had also played two matches before Sunday, but had spread it out throughout the last two days.

‘It’s tough to have back-to-back matches; we don’t ever do that, so yeah, Bucknell is tired,’ SU head coach Luke Jensen said. ‘This game is about getting one more ball back than your opponent, one more ball back and you have another shot to win. We did that today.’

The Orange (4-3) returned from a four-game road tour with a 1-3 record, but bounced back at home. Syracuse is undefeated on its home court thus far this season.

Ashley Spicer improved her singles record to 5-2, defeating Bucknell’s Dara Dwojewski. Spicer, a sophomore transfer from Washington State, is one of the only members of the Orange squad remaining consistent with her play at home and on the road. Spicer only lost one match, on the road, this weekend.

Spicer and doubles partner freshman Jacquelynn Tang defeated Dwojewski and Renne Weissand, 8-1, to improve their doubles mark to 4-3 for the season.

‘Ashley and I have a lot of chemistry on the court, and that’s hard to come by,’ Tang said. ‘We love playing together so that’s what it works versus other teams.’

Throughout the fall preseason play, everyone on the team gets to play doubles with each other so the coaches and players can see who reacts well on the court together. Each member of the team sits down with the coaching staff after playing doubles with several other members of their team, to talk about who they would like to play with.

‘Our playing styles complement each other very well,’ Spicer said. ‘Jacquelynn tends to stay a bit more calm and collected, where I tend to get really hyper and a little more excited. So we really balance each other out, and I can always get her pumped up when she’s a little down.’

Spicer said Tang’s forehand swing is better than her own, so she watches Tang to get some tips. Tang says she looks to Spicer for excitement and motivation on and off the court.

Jensen said the coaching staff could not be happier with the success Spicer and Tang have experienced this season. The duo, which is playing at the No. 3 spot, have a better record than freshmen Christina Tan and Simone Kalhorn’s (3-4) who are playing at the No. 1 spot, but Jensen said he likes the order he has now. Tan and Kalhorn won their doubles match today, 8-3.

‘Ashley and Jacquelynn are really good players and could win at number one, but playing them at number three is a huge benefit for us,’ Jensen said.

Syracuse swept the doubles play for the day; the Bisons did not get a win in the match until the end of the singles’ matches. Lauren Rotkamp defeated sophomore Chelsea Jones 6-3, 7-6, and 7-5 in the tie break. Rotkamp was the only member of the Bucknell squad to leave with a win.

Neither team has a senior on its roster, and both had played two games before meeting at Drumlins yesterday, each having a 1-1 outcome in the weekend’s matches. However, Syracuse took advantage of Bucknell being tired from a doubleheader.

‘Today the difference between Bucknell and Syracuse we played good aggressive tennis, made our shots and didn’t give away any free points,’ Jensen said.

Despite Spicer’s success home or away, she said the fan base and familiarity of the court helps the team’s momentum.

‘Last weekend we had two canceled flights and a lot of driving; we were tired,’ Spicer said. ‘Being home and having our fan base here, we feel a lot more comfortable.’

Spicer said she likes to start every match off with a ‘clean slate,’ in order to move on from Syracuse’s loss Saturday to Buffalo.

‘We need to have confidence and believe in the way we can play,’ Tang said. ‘If we keep going after it we are going to win.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on February 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm