What a week it has been for D3 tennis! We crowned a new national champion in Wesleyan and are in the midst of some great tennis at the NCAA Singles and Doubles tournaments. Since the excitement of the team championship is over, it’s time for us bloggers to resume the other things we have in the works – the competitiveness series, the senior series, Power Rankings, and one last POTW for the year. We also have some other things in the work that we think will be a lot of fun. This is my second to last profile article leading up to our big senior tribute. I’m also really excited to announce that we’ll be doing a podcast with one of our star seniors this year, so stay tuned for that later next week. Although the season is over, keep your eyes on the Blog because we’re still grinding away. Let’s get back to our senior profiles – today I have the rest of the seniors from the NE and West that were kind enough to fill out my survey. We have a lot of very successful young women below!
Senior: Rachel Pera
School: Alfred University
Major: Chemistry and Biology
Tennis Career: #6 singles, #2/#3 doubles for Saxons
Future Career: Veterinarian
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Attending The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Senior: Amanda Carl
School: Houghton College
Major: Art Major with Psychology Minor
Tennis Career: #2-#3 singles, #1/#2 doubles for Highlanders
Future Career: Art Therapist
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Going to grad school at Nazareth College to get her Master of Science in Creative Arts Therapy
Senior: Gillian Freter
School: Endicott College
Major: Hospitality Hotel Management with Spanish Minor
Tennis Career: #2-#6 singles at Endicott, also an avid skier
Future Career: Becoming a buyer for a clothing company or marketing for a home décor brand or clothing brand
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Unknown as of right now but planning on working in the Boston area
Other Cool Plans: “Thought I’d put my racquet down for a little while after graduation but was offered a tennis coaching position at a health club near me! Thinking about it.” You can’t get away from tennis, Gillian.
Senior: Nina Lurie
School: SUNY Geneseo
Major: Psychology Major with Human Development Minor
Tennis Career: #3-#5 singles, #2-#3 doubles for the Knights
Future Career: Nurse Practitioner
Immediate Post-grad Plans: MDE/DNP Graduate Program at Columbia University (ASW translation: accelerated nursing program PLUS Doctor of Nurse Practice – knocking both out in 4 years)
Senior: Kaylee Jentsch
School: Houghton College
Major: Accounting and Business Administration
Tennis Career: #2 singles, #1 doubles for the Highlanders
Future Career: Public accounting, business consulting, entrepreneurship
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Intern then work full time as an audit associate at a Big 4 firm
Other Cool Plans: Going to the US Open for September 2019!!!
Senior: Mailani Neal
School: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Major: Applied Physics and Astronomical Instrumentation
Tennis Career: Everything from #1-#6 singles, #1-#2 doubles at RPI
Future Career: Climate studies and astronomy instrumentation scientist
Immediate Post-grad Plans: PhD in Physics and Instrumentation at New Mexico Tech
Other Cool Plans: “I will reach full recovery to play tennis after having a shoulder labrum repair surgery in January.” Glad you are recovered Mailani!!
Senior: Andrea Valencia
School: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Major: Architecture
Tennis Career: #2-#5 singles, #2-#3 doubles at RPI
Future Career: Architect
Immediate Post-grad Plans: 5th year non-athletic regular student at RPI, graduating 2020 as she is in a 5 year program
Other Cool Plans: Final Project 5th year! Good luck, you will be missed on the tennis court.
Senior: Hilary Boucher
School: Colby-Sawyer College
Major: Psychology Major, Biology and Chemistry Minors
Tennis Career: #5-#6 singles, #3 doubles at Colby-Sawyer
Future Career: Physician Assistant (PA)
Immediate Post-grad Plans: PA Program at Alderson-Broaddus University
Senior: Jenna Lahaie
School: UMASS Dartmouth
Major: Management Leadership, Information Systems Minor
Tennis Career: #1 singles, #1 doubles, posting an impressive 14-2 record at both this year
Future Career: Case Manager
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Travelers Insurance Workers Comp Investigative Case Manager
Senior: Tessa Willis
School: East Texas Baptist University
Major: Kinesiology, Psychology Minor
Tennis Career: #1-#2 singles, #1-#3 doubles at ETBU
Future Career: Physical Therapist or Personal Trainer, and possibly pilot!
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Graduate School – Physical Therapy at UTSA (UT- San Antonio) or UIW (University of the Incarnate Word)
Other Cool Plans: “I have plans on possibly getting my pilots license to fly with my father who is a first officer for Delta Airlines as well as continuing my tennis in league and ITF tournaments.”
Senior: Ashley Schenck
School: East Texas Baptist University
Major: English, Public Relations Minor
Tennis Career: #4-#6 singles, #2-#3 doubles at ETBU
Future Career: Work in business, public relations, or a related field
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Looking to pursue an MBA
Senior: Kaleigh Smith
School: East Texas Baptist University
Major: Education Major- EC-6 (which means Early Childhood through grade 6)
Tennis Career: #3-#4 singles, #1-#2 doubles at ETBU
Future Career: Teacher at first but later on will become a principle or superintendent
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Masters in Educational Leadership
Other Cool Plans: “I want to open my own boutique one day. I would call it ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!’” Sounds awesome!
Senior: Tiffany Stankiewicz
School: East Texas Baptist University
Major: Nursing Major, Psychology Minor
Tennis Career: #2-#3 singles, #2 doubles at ETBU
Future Career: ER Nurse
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Still has a year of school after her 4 years of tennis in order to complete all her classes needed to graduate.
Senior: Jessie Cruz
School: Claremont McKenna College
Major: Economics-Accounting
Tennis Career: Has played at literally every singles spot in the singles and doubles lineup for the Athenas
Future Career: Wherever the wind blows
Immediate Post-grad Plans: Auditor at KPMG
Huge congratulations to all these women and their stellar achievements during college on and off the tennis court! Stay tuned for more women’s coverage in the very near future!
ASW