Tennis

Strenuous travel schedule presents challenge for Syracuse in away conference matches

It was after midnight in South Bend, Indiana and Syracuse had just finished its 45-minute warm-up hit.

Weather had delayed the team’s flight into Notre Dame and SU’s routine of hitting at the courts after arriving was severely pushed back.

“That’s hard,” said senior Amanda Rodgers, a contributing writer for The Daily Orange. “Flights getting delayed and having a long travel day and having to go out and focus and hit again… but we had to get used to the courts.”

Syracuse’s transition from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference came with not only a leap in competition, but a far more demanding travel schedule.

In its second year in the ACC, Syracuse will have traveled 7,390 miles by year’s end for conference play, compared to 5,081 in its last season of the Big East. More than half of its Big East travel, however, was a single match over winter break in Tampa, Florida.



Traveling presents challenges to the Orange (6-8, 1-7 ACC) with flight delays, stress and fans. It’s a challenge the team will face this weekend when it plays Louisville (10-9, 2-4) on Friday at the Drumlins Tennis Center in Syracuse, then at No. 61 Florida State (10-6, 3-4) in Tallahassee, Florida on Sunday.

“The traveling schedule is pretty hectic,” senior Breanna Bachini said. “It’s a pretty big jump from the Big East to the ACC, but it comes with the added bonus that we get to be a part of the ACC.”

Syracuse head coach Younes Limam carefully plans travel schedules to minimize stress for his team.

The team will play Louisville on Friday, then rest that night. The Orange flies out Saturday morning, lands in Tallahassee, checks into the hotel, goes to the tennis center and “shakes out the bugs” from traveling.

The team uses Saturday as a cushion to practice for one or two hours while making adjustments based on the previous day’s match. The team relaxes Saturday night and takes on the Seminoles the next afternoon. Then the players must rush to the airport to fly back to Syracuse the same night.

In the Big East, the team took vans and buses everywhere, Rodgers said. But in the ACC, the team only takes them to Boston College. In some ways, Rodgers said, it’s easier to travel more for the ACC because the players aren’t cramped in a van for the shorter distances like the Big East days.

“ACC has a lot of fans. Fans can play a big factor,” Rodgers said. “When we played Alabama, they had a large crowd who were all very invested in the match. We didn’t see that in the Big East.”

Even though the Crimson Tide isn’t in the ACC, it gave the Orange a preview of what conference play would be like because home-court advantage is something the team wasn’t used to seeing. And though traveling may be a disadvantage for the Orange, it’s an advantage during home matches, Rodgers said.

Each player differs on their opinion of all the travel. It’s stressful to fly so much with school and all the other commitments, in addition to staying physically ready to play a tennis match, Bachini said. But at the same time, it’s fun to travel and play teams in Florida, especially during subzero Syracuse winters, Rodgers said.

“There’s a big difference between the ACC and the Big East,” Rodgers said. “You just have to go with the flow when traveling. You never know when you’ll hit or a flight will be delayed.”





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