Three tissue boxes rested on the bench adjacent to the first tennis court at Drumlins Country Club during practice Wednesday. At least one box sat on the benches bordering the rest of the courts as well.

Injuries aren’t the only thing ravaging the Syracuse women’s tennis team lately. Four members of the team have common colds, compounding SU’s already bleak health issues, with more than half the team nursing injuries. The team will need to cope with their injuries and illnesses if it wants to beat a tough Army team today in West Point. The Black Knights (10-3) have won eight out of their last nine matches.

Catherine Zawadzki, the second singles and first doubles player, did not practice Monday or Tuesday because of a cold, but she will play today. SU will need that kind of toughness against a disciplined Army team.

‘They are mentally tough, that’s the advantage they probably have over us,’ Zawadzki said. ‘We need to make sure we will fight to the end like they will.’

SU will need to fight not only against Army, but the nagging injuries affecting so many of the Orange. First singles player Victoria Vaynberg has a strained quad, Zawadzki has a cold, third singles Ashley Lipton has tendonitis in her right foot, fourth singles Carolina Huignard has a cold, fifth singles Katie Bramante is recovering from stress fractures of both her shins, and at the six spot Jessica Juricek is getting over bronchitis.

‘If someone leaves (and doesn’t play), we have to move everyone up, and that can seriously hurt,’ SU head coach Mac Gifford said. ‘They have great resiliency though.’

Gifford said that SU assistant coach Ana Radeljevic, who graduated from Old Dominion in 2002 and still plays regularly, can’t remember the last time she played without something wrong with her. His point? Playing with injuries is just part of the game these days.

He believes the Orange will fight through the pain, citing victories by Vaynberg and Lipton this weekend when they were hobbled by a bad leg and foot, respectively.

Today’s match is an important one for the Orange. It has lost two straight matches and wants to gain momentum for its trip to California over Spring Break. During the trip, Syracuse will face ranked teams Fresno State and Yale, along with Loyola Marymount.

But SU can’t overlook Army before it takes off to California.

‘They are going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us,’ Gifford said. ‘We have better talent, but they will go out and push us to our limit.’

All six singles players plan to play, although each one has a separate ailment. Gifford said he’s not forcing the girls to play – they want to.

After today’s match, the California trip will give the Orange some time to heal and enjoy the weather before it returns to Syracuse to face three straight Big East teams.

The trip will give Syracuse some much needed rest and relaxation, taking the players’ minds from band-aids to the beach.

‘My mother says I am going to tan,’ Zawadzki said. ‘If she says that, then I am going to get a tan.’

Published on March 3, 2005 at 12:00 pm