Following a season that concluded with an NCAA DIII title last year, one has to wonder if the bar could be set any higher for the Emory women’s tennis team. That is, until a stellar showing in the fall left them the honor of starting this season not only as the defending champions, but also as the No. 1 team in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) women’s tennis rankings.
The Eagles are led by junior co-captain Bridget Harding, who enters this season as both the No. 1 ranked singles player and half of the No. 1 doubles team alongside her partner, senior Katarina Su.
By winning the ITA Division III title in women’s singles and doubles in the Fall, Harding nationally distinguished herself as an elite performer.
“Bridget is a focused and motivated person,” Head Coach Amy Bryant said. “She worked really hard in the offseason and that’s what it takes to improve in college tennis … you have to be on all the time, and that is the kind of person that she is.”
While playing under that kind of spotlight is daunting for some, Harding is more than willing to embrace the challenges that come with being the top-ranked player in the nation.
“[The No. 1 ranking] has its own challenges,” Harding said. “There is no less work to be done — if anything, there is more work. I love the pressure of that situation and I love having that title, so I plan to defend it.”
The strong support of her teammates should take some of the pressure off Harden. Senior and team co-captain Michelle Satterfield begins the year as a nationally ranked singles player (No. 12), along with sophomore Daniela Lopez (No. 22), senior Paula Castro (No. 48) and Su (No. 27).
“We have been with each other for a while now,” Harding said of her teammates. “We have experience in tight situations … like the national championship and those later rounds when it gets really tough mentally. That will be big for us — coming in with a lot of people who have been there before.”
The Eagles return with a highly experienced roster. Out of the ten women on the team, seven are upperclassmen, including five seniors.
“We have a mature group, both on the court and off the court,” Bryant said. “The five seniors that we have — I wouldn’t trade them for anyone. It’s a great group.”
In conversations with Bryant and Harding, it’s clear they share a common tactical mindset.
“Our goals are always to take it one match at a time,” Bryant said. “We are not really focused on results right now; we are not focused on winning any particular tournaments. We are just focused on getting better every time we step on the court.”
Harding echoed the sentiment, being careful not to think too much about the future and instead focusing in on what the team must do next.
“We are going into the season with a title to defend, but we usually go into it not thinking about the end result,” Harding said. “We have got some good work put in so far, but we are going to take it match by match and hopefully we [will] end up in the same place we did last year.”
With the rankings and expectations surrounding the team, it will be easy to get swept up in the moment. However, the experienced Eagles team appears more than ready to assume the challenge of the coming season.
“At the end of the day, if we have a high ranking, that’s great, but that doesn’t really mean anything to us,” Bryant said. “All we are worried about is how we play in May and how we get to the point where we play our best in May.”
