After dropping the second game of the second set — her first lost game of the match — Maddie Kobelt unleashed a serve her opponent could only stare at as it whisked by. Kobelt calmly whispered, “C’mon” under her breath as she walked to the other end of the baseline.

It was that kind of day for Kobelt and Syracuse on serve. The Orange (8-7, 4-1 Big East) picked up its third consecutive 7-0 win, this time in a Wednesday matinee against Army (13-4, 3-0 Patriot). After sweeping in doubles, the Orange had four players, including Kobelt, who didn’t drop a single service game.

“I think that learning where to place the ball, finding where your opponent’s weakness is and not really having the same patterns really helps a lot,” Kobelt said.

Syracuse has so much confidence in its serving abilities, it has a policy that if given the opportunity on the coin flip, the Orange will always choose to serve first in order to get out to an early lead.

Syracuse head coach Luke Jensen said that method especially rings true against a resilient team like the Black Knights.

“They’re not going to give up. They’re going to keep coming after you,” Jensen said. “I felt today, compared to all of the rest of the whole season, we really took charge. Get after them, don’t let them back into it, and we just came from the first ball to the last ball.”

Kobelt, who wrapped up her match first in two sets, led the Orange on the day. Freshman Brittany Lashway was the next off of the court, winning 6-1, 6-0 while also not dropping a service game.

Junior Aleah Marrow and sophomore Amanda Rodgers didn’t blink on serves, either — both took the offensive en route to straight sets wins. Syracuse won every set, with no player dropping more than three games in any set.

Jensen said the much-improved serving stems from an emphasis during practice. He said he tries to make the exercise fun.

“We have a competition. It’s like a game of Horse. You and your teammates are serving to targets and whoever hits five targets in a row first wins and they move up and loser moves down,“ Jensen said. “It’s not just serving for a serve, its serving with a purpose.”

Kobelt said that while good serving is usually a huge emphasis in men’s tennis — where one break of serve could put you out of a match — she believes SU’s ability to go on the offensive gives her team a huge leg up.

“You see on the men’s side that you have to hold serve. If you don’t hold serve, you’re going to lose,” Kobelt said. “For girls, it’s a little different with breaks and stuff, but it’s still just as important to emphasize holding your serve.”

Published on March 28, 2013 at 2:02 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3