Rhiann Newborn smashed an ace past her opponent and she turned to her doubles partner, Breanna Bachini, as both girls screamed and pumped their fists.

A “Let’s go, Orange!” chant from the Syracuse team thundered through Drumlins Tennis Center.

The Pittsburgh pair — Molly Wickman and Amber Washington — battled back against the Orange with lobs and drop shots as the struggle to win the doubles point carried on.

“(The doubles point) was big,” Newborn said. “The match depended on us winning or losing. Coach told me to take it out when (Wickman) lobbed it.”

No. 34 Syracuse (6-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) eventually won the doubles point and bested Pitt (2-7, 0-4), 5-2, to pick up its first conference victory on the season. While the match didn’t yield a three-match doubles sweep — something head coach Younes Limam has looked for all season – it showed the improvement in Syracuse’s doubles attack and carried momentum into the singles section.

The Orange evened its doubles record on the year to 5-5 after losing the doubles point to Notre Dame on Friday. SU is also still adjusting to conference-style doubles play, which is a first-to-eight format rather than the nonconference first-to-six format.

“(The last doubles) was quite a match,” Limam said. “I definitely think it was gusty. We came in big in (the last doubles) and we had a chance to win the second match. I’m proud of the effort.”

Komal Safdar and Valeria Salazar, formerly ranked as the 59th-best doubles pair in the nation, beat Pitt’s pairing of Katherine Castro and Lolade Ogungbesan, 8-2. Castro and Ogungsbesan, while unranked, had beaten a Notre Dame duo, then-ranked 14th, earlier in the season.

Safdar and Salazar used their aggressive net play to force bad angles — and worse shots — in their favor. The SU duo forced quick reactions, spins, pirouettes and backhands until a Pitt unforced error ended the point.

“We had the team all united,” Safdar said. “We had the fans and involved and that’s what made the difference.”

In Syracuse’s last doubles match, freshman Nicole Mitchell and senior Amanda Rodgers faced Pitt’s Callie Frey and Audrey Ann Blakely. The 8-7 Pittsburgh victory was decided on a tiebreak and Mitchell and Rodgers had battled back from an early hole.
That’s when Bachini and Newborn closed out the doubles point for Syracuse with an 8-7 (7-4) win.

“When you’re winning points, it gives you momentum,” Safdar said. “The closer doubles point definitely gave us momentum going into the singles.”

Newborn said she felt a shift in match momentum when she sent the winner past Pitt to close the doubles play. Her opponents were intimidated and her confidence was boosted, she said.

Rodgers said the momentum from the doubles point, combined with her frustration at failing to capture the third set in her match on Friday, helped her adopt a better mentality and win her three-set singles match, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

“Doubles was huge for us today,” Limam said. “Winning the doubles and going into the singles in great position. We got out to a fast start. That’s something we talked about. We’re very glad we got the W today.”

Published on March 1, 2015 at 6:19 pm

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