Rhiann Newborn believes the way players perform in tiebreakers correlates with their state of mind going in.

She’ll walk around the back of the court bouncing up and down. She tries to keep an aggressive mindset.

“It just depends on how mentally focused you are,” said Newborn, SU’s most successful singles player, “how mentally you’re ready for the tiebreak.”

Through the first eight matches of the season, Syracuse (5-3) has found itself in 17 tiebreakers, both in singles and doubles play, and it has a 10-7 record in such situations. Last season through eight matches, the Orange had only played in seven tiebreaks. They are a crucial part of the game and they can be mentally difficult.

Tiebreakers — which determine the winner of tight sets — require a certain level of mental toughness from the players involved.

“Obviously it’s a big part of the set,” Syracuse head coach Limam said. “Whoever wins that tiebreaker is going to end up having that little bit of momentum after that.”

When senior Amanda Rodgers faced off against then-No. 60 singles player Jessica Wacnik on Boston College on Feb. 14, she played the match tight, but lost two tiebreak sets — and the match — 7-6, 7-6.

Rodgers – who has played in four tiebreakers on the season — said she treats the short contests as new sets and forgets about everything that happened previously in the set.

“I just kind of try to free my mind,” Rodgers said, “and I have a certain confidence just because I know how hard I work and I know that I work harder than my opponent, so I know that I could prevail.”

And the mental aspect of tiebreakers doesn’t end when one player emerges victoriously. Rodgers said that winning and losing tiebreakers are not only the difference between winning and losing a set; there are also major effects on a player’s mental state going forward in the match if it occurs in the first set.

“It’s really hard to bounce back from losing a tiebreaker,” Rodgers said. “I think that’s one of the hardest things in a match.”

The mental effects of tiebreaker, both positive and negative, show in Rodgers’ scores this year. She has played two first-set tiebreaks in singles matches, and the outcomes of both of them have been identical to those at the end of the matches.

In every tiebreaker for a singles player for Syracuse this season, a win has resulted in a win for the match. And conversely, a loss in the tiebreak has resulted in the player losing the match.

It’s an aspect of the game that can make or break a player or a team and Limam knows its importance.

Said Limam: “And one of the things we’ve been reminding the girls of is just having the clear vision and just committing to their shots and trusting their shots and playing their game during those moments and not focusing too much on the outcome or what the score is.”

Published on February 25, 2015 at 12:02 am

Contact Kevin: kjpacell@syr.edu