The myriad of distractions the Syracuse tennis team is facing as its 2010 regular season comes to an end may be the toughest the program has ever faced. It’s just the reality that accompanies the success Luke Jensen’s squad has had this season.   
 

It has passed the school record of 16 wins in a season with an 18-2 record. It is on a winning streak of 12 matches. It is undefeated at home and in the Big East. And the Big East tournament is two weeks away.
 

But for now, the team maintains that all these things are just that: distractions. No matter what has occurred up until this point, and what is to come, it is at this juncture. And Jensen says SU’s match against Temple this weekend is its only worry.
 

That’s it.
 

‘I haven’t thought about Big Easts at all,’ Jensen said. ‘I’ve just thought about Temple. I’m so engrossed with learning as much as I can about that other team and their players and learning about how I can prepare these guys. I want to take care of Temple first. And Big East is going to be Big East. I’ve got plenty of time to think about that.’
 

To gather information about Temple’s players, Jensen has called coaches of other teams that have played Temple. In other cases, Jensen has called coaches of individuals who have faced the Temple players outside of collegiate play. He has had even more difficulty in certain situations because so many of Temple’s players are international — five of the eight women on the team come from outside the states.
 

They are means to an end that Jensen hopes will enable the Orange to traverse Temple before Big East championships begin.
 

‘They hit with a lot of power,’ he said. ‘Knowing that, I know we’re going to have to counter with changeups, slices, spins. We can hit with power too, but we don’t want to play the game they want to play. Because we’ve developed all-court players, the first thing that comes to mind is that I want to go out there and play a consistent change-of-pace game. I don’t want to go toe-to-toe with these guys. If we do that, we’ll win.’
 

With a varied, more hectic style of play in mind for the weekend, the team is going about practice like it would for any match.
 

One major focus in practice this week has been doubles play. Temple has lost every team match in which they’ve lost the doubles point. In collegiate matches, the doubles team plays its match before the singles team. For SU, like any other team, it is a chance to establish dominance early.
 

And this weekend as the Orange tries to focus on Temple, co-captain Simone Kalhorn believes stressing the doubles could key a win.
 

‘We’re working on a lot of doubles plays, and our aggressive play and competing against each other,’ Kalhorn said. ‘The first doubles point is what gives us momentum going into the rest of the match. That’s where our strength is.’

The Orange has only lost doubles three times this year. Two of those losses came in the team’s only two defeats in dual matches this year.
 

Aside from the focus on doubles, the Orange is going into this match with the focus of a match in early February.
 

Jensen wants to make it clear. This is not just a match to get through. But it also is not going to make or break the attitude of the team for the Big East championship.
 

Simply, it is a match that the team wants to win because they should win every match. And that’s precisely the mindset co-captain Christina Tan says Jensen wants out of his players.
Every match should be the same. And every match should be a win.
 

‘It’s big, but we still have matches to play after, and we have the Big East tournament,’ Tan said. ‘It would be awesome to finish up with a win, with whatever our record is. It’s a big match but we still have further things to accomplish afterwards.’
 

alguggen@syr.edu