The Syracuse tennis team needs no reminders. Its memory serves it quite well.

The Orangewomen recall vividly their match last spring against Missouri. They don’t need to be told how, in their last regular-season match, they lost, 4-3, on the road. They remember how that loss snapped a three-game winning streak and ended their hopes of traveling to Miami for postseason play.

SU wants to avoid a repeat performance when the teams reunite in Syracuse tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the Drumlins Tennis Center.

So does head coach Mac Gifford.

‘We’ve been playing really well, so it’s a big test for us,’ Gifford said. ‘Last year, we won three singles matches but lost the doubles point and couldn’t pull (a victory) off.’

This year’s meeting is a different story than last year’s. Syracuse may don the same three-game winning streak coming in as it did last year, but the similarities end there.

Statistically, Syracuse enters this weekend’s meet a better team than last year’s. This season’s 7-4 (3-1 Big East) record tops last year’s record of 8-10, 4-2.

The real difference, though, is in the Orangewomen’s confidence, which senior Shervin Saedinia said is high after last week’s success in Boca Raton, Fla.

‘Last year was really close,’ Saedinia said. ‘But the more matches we win, the more confident you get. And it’s good to know that we have three wins behind us going into this match.’

SU sophomore Kristine Bech Holte knows payback will be on her teammates’ minds.

‘We really want to beat them because they beat us last year,’ Holte said. ‘I know they’re good, but I’m sure we can beat them.’

SU might face a roadblock in doubles. The usually dominant Orangewomen will face tough competition from Missouri’s Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova, which Gifford called one of the country’s best doubles teams.

‘Last year was real close,’ Gifford said. ‘We were a game away from winning that match. (But the team is) very confident right now. It’s going to come down to who really wants it the most.’

Holte said should Syracuse suffer a loss, its confidence will remain high.

‘Even if we lose, I don’t think we’d feel that bad,’ she said. ‘We’ve done really well lately. But, of course, it’d be great to win.’

Published on March 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm