Maria Vasilyeva, the only upperclassman on Syracuse, has shown her veteran experience throughout SU’s seven-game losing streak.

The rest of the Syracuse tennis team is trying to learn from it.

‘The girls keep asking me, ‘What do you do? Why are you winning?” Vasilyeva said. ‘I just try not to be scared and keep my head in the game.’

Vasilyeva won her third straight singles match against Pittsburgh’s Elizabeth Adams. Vasilyeva defeated Adams 6-3, 6-2, after losing the first set, 6-2. The rest of the Orange did not fair as well, losing to the Panthers, 4-3, on Sunday at the Drumlins Country Club.

During the first set, Vasilyeva complained of her nagging back and leg injury. She has been experiencing back pain due to her bad posture and pulled her leg muscle earlier in the season.

However, Vasilyeva battled back in the next two sets to win the match, giving SU its third singles match win of the day, during the three hour-plus match. The win was her eighth in the past 10 matches.

‘I think my confidence has a lot to do with my winning,’ Vasilyeva said. ‘Once I lost my first set I realized I was being silly and that I could fight my way back despite being in pain. I didn’t have to lose.’

Syracuse head coach Luke Jensen attributes Vasilyeva’s success to her self-confidence and experience of playing college tennis for Syracuse for three years.

‘These are four-hour matches, and you’ve never done this in your life. You better have come prepared for this season,’ Jensen said. ‘Maria has that experience; she goes out there and plays her game no matter what the circumstances. She executes.’

Vasilyeva also experienced success against Central Florida March 14 and South Florida March 16. She defeated Central Florida’s Anna Yakimchenkova 7-5, 6-2. At the No. 3 position vs. South Florida, Vasilyeva defeated Liz Cruz 7-6, (7-2), 6-2. Vasilyeva was the only Syracuse player to win a match that day.

After Vasilyeva had a winning weekend in Florida, Jensen said, ‘When you ask Maria if she’s going to win today, her answer is always a confident ‘yes.”

As for the rest of the team, there doesn’t seem to be as much of a clear answer of what is causing the losing streak. Jensen continues to stress execution and self-confidence, exactly what Vasilyeva has practiced.

Freshman Christina Tan said Syracuse is about to turn its losing streak around this week when it faces Villanova, today at 2 p.m. and tomorrow when it takes on Colgate at 4 p.m., both at the Drumlins Country Club. Tan said looking at Pittsburgh’s scouting report helped the team understand the competition, but it could have possibly just intimidated the team more.

‘Pittsburgh was on a three-match winning streak, so we saw that in our scouting report,’ Tan said. ‘We saw how they stacked up against other Big East opponents and tried to get mentally ready to play them.’

Jensen had said in the past his team lacks self-confidence and it thinks it

s out of the competition’s league once it has read the scouting reports.

‘I think we lack self-confidence as a team,’ Vasilyeva said. ‘We think too much about winning or losing the whole match. I just make sure I make my shots, we all need to concentrate on getting points over the net.’

Vasilyeva said SU’s serving lacked consistency against the Panthers. Many players were serving the ball into the net before making it over on their second try. Vasilyeva gives the rest of the team advice, telling them to focus on the set they are playing.

Said Vasilyeva: ‘I try not to think about our team losing streak and just go out there and play my game.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on March 24, 2008 at 12:00 pm