Syracuse’s Maria Tritou lofted a ball toward the opposite baseline and it soared above the heads of Notre Dame doubles pair Jane Fennelly and Allison Miller.

Both Fennelly and Miller were playing near the net, and they watched Tritou’s lob flutter in the air like children staring at a lost balloon. It landed behind them, right on the baseline.

Point: Syracuse.

To win the match minutes later, Tritou split the middle with a hard forehand that left Fennelly and Miller looking at one another.

Match: Syracuse.

“Our coach had told us to go between them,” said Nicole Mitchell, Tritou’s doubles partner. “We didn’t do anything special.”

But thanks to Tritou, who contributed in half of SU’s four wins, No. 33 Syracuse’s (8-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) 4-3 win over No. 30 Notre Dame (8-4, 3-1) was special. Entering Sunday, the Orange was winless in five matches against the Fighting Irish dating back to 2001. UND was the highest ranked opponent SU had edged since 2011, when it defeated then-No. 25 Yale.

“It’s a huge step forward for our program,” SU head coach Younes Limam said.

After Tritou and Mitchell won their doubles match, Tritou trotted over to Drumlins Country Club court 5 and made quick work of Notre Dame’s Mary Cross in consecutive sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Tritou, a freshman, improved to 6-2 in singles play with the win over Cross. But her game wasn’t clicking on all cylinders. Several of her backhands ended up in the net. She yanked some forehands out of bounds. After one unforced error, she hit a ball into the fence behind her and it trickled onto an adjacent court. Notre Dame’s Monica Robinson had to pause before serving, bend over and pick it up.

After tapping her racket and slapping her thigh, Tritou found a way to win against the left-handed Cross. To counter the spin on Cross’ serve, Tritou often crept up near the service line like she would against a right-handed player. Normally, Tritou said she stays back and uses her baseline game to dictate points. But she thought that moving up eliminated time for Cross’ serves to curve and gave Cross a look she probably wasn’t accustomed to.

“Her serves were just different from what I’m used to,” Tritou said. “That was weird.”

At 4-2 in the second set, Tritou powered a hard serve that Cross had to stretch for just so that she could return it with a weak floater. Tritou anticipated it by creeping up about 15 feet, and whacked a forehand winner. Up 5-2 in the same set, she hit two down-the-line backhands before unleashing a cross-court backhand that was several racket-lengths out of Cross’ reach.

“You push people off the court, you open up court, give yourself space, attack,” said volunteer assistant coach Len Lopoo. “She’s very good about moving forward.”

Lopoo said Tritou’s baseline game is her staple. She hits clean forehands and backhands from the baseline, which means she almost always hits the ball in the center of the racket. This can penetrate opponents and push them back, which is exactly what happened on Sunday.

“Her footwork was tremendous,” Lopoo said. “That’s exactly what she should be doing.”

Published on February 28, 2016 at 6:57 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21