Jamie Chan

Past Entries

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March 22, 2004

The "Denison Dream Season" came to a halt last weekend after meeting its worst nightmare – the Emory women's tennis team! But here's a little recap of the week preceding our match.

Coming off of a whirlwind spring break domination tour in California, we lost no time in getting back on the courts and polishing a few areas of our games. Before each practice, Coach Amy reminded us that each person would need to play with "heart" and a "fighting spirit" in order to stay focused on our ultimate goal (repeating at Nationals), and continue our domination. Motivated by those words, we attacked each ball with renewed focus and intensity.

Midway into the week, Jolyn, our No. 2 singles player who also plays No. 1 doubles, underwent mini-surgery to remove a cyst from her leg. As a result, she wasn't able to play in our match against Denison – who had just defeated the No. 2 team in the nation. For many other teams and coaches, this unfortunate turn of events probably would've sent a wave of panic coursing through them. But not our team. We all moved up a position in the lineup, and after a week of intense practices, all of us were ready to do battle against the Big Reds.

Saturday greeted us with beautiful weather, and we were all excited to start the match. Cheered on by perhaps our biggest fan gathering yet, including special guests such as President Wagner, Emily Warburg, and honorary coach Judy Raggi-Moore of the Italian department at Emory, we eagerly began the doubles matches.

Margaret and Carina dominated Denison at No. 1 doubles as did Mary Ellen and Petie at No. 3 doubles. However, although Richelle and I tried our best to overcome our doubles opponents, we fell to them 8-6 in a close, well-fought match at No. 2 doubles.

After regrouping, we headed back onto the courts for some singles action, while Jolyn cheered us on, and made a new "friend" with a spectator. It was clear from the beginning that Denison was not going to back down. Therefore, we all knew what we had to do…"Take it!" And we did just that.

We secured three more wins by dominating the competition at No. 1, 2, and 5 singles. However, Margaret and Breana were still neck and neck in their matches, battling against their opponents. Breana's incredible physical fitness, far superior to her opponent's, allowed her to run down every ball to win her two-hour long match.

Although Margaret was down a set in her match, she showed tremendous "heart" and "fighting spirit" and came roaring back to an awesome 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 finish. What an exciting way to finish a match! We knew we would be tested in our match against Denison, but we studied…I mean…practiced hard, and passed with flying colors!

This weekend we'll be traveling to Virginia to take on Redlands, DePauw, and UC-Santa Cruz. It should be fun! Check back for more details!

Jamie Chan is a sophomore from Lakeland, Fla. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.