This week I had the pleasure to sit down with freshman Katherine Nova, from the tennis team. Nova laid out how the season has been so far, saying, “Last weekend was our first match of this season. It was good overall. The first match was a little tough against Ohio Northern; really hard opponents. The score wasn’t what we wanted. We lost 4-3, but it was super close… And then against Greenville, it was a little bit easier since we’d played against really tough opponents in the first match.”
“We’re looking really good this season overall,” said Nova. “We were ranked number one in the polls for the conference. I think we have a lot of chances to win the conference this year. I’m super excited to see what’s coming next.”
“I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but I kind of knew it,” said Nova when asked about being named athlete of the week. “Just ‘cause the score of the first match was super close. Also, ‘cause it was the number one singles position, so it should be the hardest match. It actually means a lot. This was my first actual college match. Even when I was playing I was going through a lot of emotions. I dreamed about this my entire life, and now it’s like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m playing right now, number one in college tennis, something I dreamed about my entire life.’ It’s actually becoming real.”
Discussing other difference-makers on the team, she said, “Definitely Kourtney [Kawata]. She was playing I think number five. She won all of her matches, so definitely her. Ari [Zegarra], she had a really, really tough match against Ohio Northern. Incredible match, so definitely her. I think they were the most outstanding players that day, but they all played great. The whole team played really well.”
After, I asked about any personal or team goals for the semester. Nova responded, “Definitely our team goal this season is to win conference and make it to nationals, especially ‘cause we know we have a lot of chances to make it. Personally, I have an ultimate goal with my coach; we were talking about it on Monday when the athlete of the week came out. Our goal is to be named rookie of the year for this season… I think I can make it. Definitely, I’m going to keep working super hard.”
Finally, I asked if she had anything she’d like to say to the rest of the Asbury student body. She said, “I would like to tell them to support tennis more. I know we don’t have a facility here at Asbury, so that’s why we don’t get too much support. We play away from campus, but I really encourage all of the students and everybody to come support Asbury tennis, because we really play hard. We’re tough.”
Photo courtesy of AU Athletics.
