When Syracuse tennis player Shervin Saedinia started practice yesterday afternoon, something seemed a bit off.

‘I’m delusional at this point,’ Saedinia told head coach Mac Gifford as she rallied with teammate Wei-Ming Leong. ‘The ball is like a blur.’

Saedinia had been awake since 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and was heading into her 34th sleepless hour. She’d been up all night cramming for her midterms in physics and social psychology.

Two tests and an all-nighter seem like more than enough working out, but Saedinia was still chugging along at 6 p.m., running laps and stretching with her team at Manley Field House.

At least she’ll get a chance to sleep in before today’s meet against Connecticut at Drumlins at 4 p.m., a much more reasonable hour than Saedinia’s 8:30 a.m. class.

‘She’s used to it,’ junior Jessica Schlosser said. ‘She’s a night owl anyway.’

A good night’s sleep might not be enough for senior Daniela Kaluskova, who’s been feeling bad the past few days. When Gifford asked the team’s trainer how Kaluskova looked, the trainer responded with one word: ‘Sick.’

Unlike West Virginia — SU’s opponent Sunday — UConn has no long-standing rivalry with the Orangewomen. In fact, this is the schools’ first meeting in years, part of a restructuring and revival of the conference.

Syracuse hosts West Virginia at 11 a.m. Sunday. Though the Mountaineers lost badly to Syracuse last year in a match played on Easter Sunday, this year WVU has a new coach and several talented freshmen.

‘West Virginia is a rival of ours,’ Gifford said. ‘I know (head coach Dan Silverstein) has got those guys pumped up for this.’

Gifford is excited about the direction Big East tennis is going.

‘There are a couple teams at the top, and now it’s starting to get more competitive,’ Gifford said. ‘The teams are getting better. They’re adding good players, and the Big East teams are playing each other. It’s getting to be more like a conference.’

Extra conference competition gives Syracuse (and the rest of the Big East) the opportunity to mix up the standings and perhaps dethrone the traditional champions, Notre Dame and Miami. But SU will first have to take care of historically non-competitive teams, like UConn, that are suddenly hungry for a spot in the postseason.

‘The last few years, we’ve been shoe-ins for the Big East tournament,” Gifford said. “This year, it’s different. This year, it’s work.’

Published on February 12, 2003 at 12:00 pm