California dreaming? Not so much for Syracuse Tennis and other Olympic Sports
By Drew Albaugh | @Drew_Albaugh
Fresh off its first ACC win of the season against Florida State (10-2, 1-1 ACC), all signs pointed to Syracuse tennis (8-5, 1-5 ACC) traveling across the country to the Golden State and making things competitive. However, what transpired was anything but competitive.
The Orange started the weekend with a lopsided match against Stanford (9-2, 2-0 ACC) from the start. After losing the doubles point 2-1, SU went on to drop all but one singles match, suffering its largest defeat in nearly a month, 4-1. The following day, the sun may have shone brighter, but the ‘Cuse did not. In what seemed like a repeat of day one, Syracuse battled in the doubles point but ultimately failed to take it, 2-1. Then, in singles play, the Cal Golden Bears (5-4, 2-0 ACC) dominated the Orange, sending SU home with a 5-2 defeat and its fourth loss in five matches.
What may have initially seemed like a shockingly disappointing performance was actually quite predictable when viewed in the bigger picture. Since the ACC expanded to include West Coast teams like Stanford and Cal, as well as SMU in Texas, the Orange have struggled across the board—not just in tennis—when traveling long distances. Syracuse men’s basketball is 1-2 in these contests, with a lone win over Cal. The women’s basketball team has fared even worse, going 0-3 when traveling to the western half of the U.S. But it’s even more challenging for Olympic sports. For teams like volleyball, rowing and tennis, long-distance travel often involves multiple layovers, commercial flights and delays. Combined with a two- or three-hour time change, the toll can push athletes beyond their limits, making games uncompetitive and unreflective of their true skill levels.
Of course, this isn’t always the case. Take football, for example. The Orange traveled across the country to face Cal in late November and came away victorious with one of their biggest wins of the season. But when you examine the preparation required for that success, it becomes clear why professional teams thrive on long road trips. For SU’s away game in California and its matchup against UNLV in Las Vegas, head coach Fran Brown and the team departed more than four days in advance on a charter flight. This gave the team ample time to adjust to the time zones, explore the city and prepare for the game. The result? Two wins, including the Orange’s first ranked victory of the season.
You see this all the time in professional sports. NFL teams rarely complain about travel because of the convenience of flying at the professional level. But in last season’s Stanley Cup Final, when the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers had to travel back and forth between their respective arenas four times in just over a week, complaints were heard loud and clear on both sides.
The real issue, however, is that while NHL and NFL players are paid professionals whose job is to play games, the same cannot be said for college athletes in Olympic sports. An argument can be made that NIL money justifies travel burdens for major sports like football and basketball. But for tennis, it’s a hard sell to claim that a “student-athlete” who committed to Syracuse before cross-country opponents joined the conference should now be required to travel commercially with quick turnarounds. Not only does this diminish the quality of competition, but it is also unfair to athletes balancing academics with their sport.
Thankfully, Syracuse tennis has a chance to rest before another road match—this time in Atlanta against No. 24 Georgia Tech (7-7, 2-3 ACC). I’ll be there in person, so be sure to follow @Drew_Albaugh and @CitrusTVSports for updates and on-site coverage.
