Luke Jensen described this past weekend as ‘an interesting, unique experience,’ for the Syracuse women’s tennis team. An ice storm, two canceled airline flights, eight hours driving in a car, three mornings waking up before four a.m. and playing on a temporary tennis court is Jensen’s definition of unique.

Those factors might have taken a toll on Syracuse (2-2) this weekend. The Orange faced Kansas State on Saturday and Missouri (3-1) on Sunday, losing 5-2 and 6-1, respectively.

Despite the disappointing results, Jensen said he was not upset about having two losses tacked onto the team’s record.

‘It looks bad on record, two losses back to back, but the character of this team really came out this weekend,’ Jensen said. ‘Their work ethic and the way they compete is the cornerstone of who we are. We really have a team here that can handle distractions.’

And there were certainly plenty of distractions for SU.

The Orange’s poor weekend seemed doomed from the start to due travel issues. Originally, the Orange was supposed to fly out of Syracuse at 10 a.m. Friday morning, but that flight was canceled due to the ice storm in the area. The team’s flight was rescheduled to 5 p.m., but that flight was also canceled.

Finally the team booked a flight out of Rochester early Saturday morning. Jensen and the rest of the coaching staff picked the team up at 4 a.m. and drove an hour and a half to the airport.

After driving two hours from an area airport to compete in Manhattan, Kan., the Orange were easily dispatched by Kansas State. Sophomore Chelsea Jones tallied her third singles win of the season. She only won two singles matches all season.

Unfortunately for the Orange, Jones’ win was perhaps the lone highlight against the Wildcats. From there, the team got back on the road and traveled four hours to Colombia, Mo., arriving at 1 a.m. for a noon match.

It didn’t fare much better against the Tigers. Sophomore Ashley Spicer was the only member of the Orange to win a singles match versus Missouri, winning her third match in as many games.

Still, Jensen seemed pleased with the way the team competed despite the travel problems.

‘I was more proud of the way we competed and by the way we could handle distractions like travel misfortunes and a loud crowd that was rooting against us, than the two wins we had last weekend at home,’ Jensen said.

SU also faced obstacles in the form of Missouri’s tennis facilities. A temporary court was laid down, basketball hoops were around the arena, and behind court one was a track and field long jump pit. If an athlete stepped back too far they would have a foot in sand.

‘I played on temporary courts as a professional,’ Jensen said. ‘That was just another obstacle we faced this weekend. A lot of players would be distracted by the change in surface and frustrated by it. But our players were like ‘Hey this is part of the deal,’ and they took it with stride.’

Jensen maintained the girls did not appear tired from the traveling and lack of sleep, but both Kansas State and Missouri outplayed them.

‘If we went out and won those two matches this weekend then we get a false sense of over confidence,’ Jensen said. ‘So now with three matches this upcoming weekend, we want payback. This week at practice everyone has to bring in something that they feel they need to improve on. And we’ll go from there.’

The sub par weekend ended up much as it started. The Orange players woke up at 4:15 Monday morning, were back in Syracuse by 11:30 a.m., dropped their baggage off and went to class.

‘The biggest thing is we have a team here that enjoys the process of a crazy collegiate athletic career,’ Jensen said. ‘Could we have played better? Sure. But all this, it’s fun. We are better now because of this, so sure two losses looks bad, but we grew as a team.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on February 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm