Upland, Ind.- The Lawrence Technological University (Mich.) women's tennis team will kick off the 2018-19 season today at 11:00 AM when they face Taylor University (Ind.). This is the third time the Blue Devils face the Trojans, with Taylor University holding a 2-0 lead in the all-time series. They will play their second match on August 25 in Indianapolis, Ind. against Marian University (Ind.) at 10:00 AM. These two teams have only played one match against each other, which the Knights won back in March of this year.
The Blue Devils come back to the court after the most successful season in the program's history, in which they registered a total record of 18-10.
Lawrence Tech caught up with Head Coach Steve Behmlander to talk about the upcoming season. Here is what he had to say about it:
Last year was a record season for LTU since it was the year the team has had the most victories (18-10) and the best record in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference in the program's history (3-2). How are you getting prepared to exceed these expectations this year? Are you doing anything different in comparison to previous years?
I do not know if we are doing anything different. This season we have some kids that have been around for a couple of years on the team, so they kind of know the drill. We are bringing brand new kids who are much more mature than what we have recruited in previous years. We are bringing them up to speed as quick as we can, but also as gently as we can. [They are] brand new to college tennis and […] to college [in general], so I want to make sure we kind of take our time and make sure that they are comfortable because they are experiencing so much so quickly. That is what is most important to me.
How is your current team different from last year's? Taking into account the seniors that graduated and the freshmen that came in.
The team has changed a little bit. We did graduate Carolyn McCullen and we lost Caroline Harpaintner to eligibility. [Caroline playing for the team] was kind of a fluke if you will. Caroline and I were talking last year and I said: "you know, it would be great if you still had some eligibility left" and my goodness she did. She actually had a year, but she played in the spring, so just a semester. Anytime you have somebody who has played Division I tennis as Caroline and you take her out of the lineup, it is going to be a big loss. That said, while she was on the lineup last year, our best players were put down on the lineup, which gave us much more depth. With Caroline gone and Carolyn graduated, the young ladies who will represent the top half of our lineup: Anusha Varudandi(SO/Parkland, Fla.), Sabrina Mateos (JR/Mexico City, Mex.), and Maria Vega-Hazas (FR/Santander, Spain) will feel their absence. Anusha and Sabrina […] have played very well in the last couple of years, and I have full confidence they are ready to take the next step.
The team made it to the conference final last year, do you think you will be able to make it again, win it, and go to Nationals? How are the newcomers contributing to the team?
I do not know about nationals yet. I think we are still a little raw, a little new if you will. We are going to include the ladies in more high-level tournaments this year than we have in previous years because I think they are ready to take that step. How they perform on those tournaments will really depend on what happens in the post-season. The new kids are terrific. We have Maria Vega-Hazas, Samantha Weber (FR/Clarkston, Mich.), and […] Maria Nicholls (FR/Shelby Township, Mich.). Maria Nicholls is going to be a terrific teammate, she is going to contribute when she can, where she can, and she understands that. Maria Vega-Hazas will be in our top three lineup. Samantha is a terrific player. When I was recruiting her, I do not remember her being so tall or so strong as when she showed up at school. It is a great thing for coaches to say "oh my goodness, you really surprised me and this is great". However, she will probably start the season on the #5 position, which will be so much stronger than other years' lineup. I am really excited about it. And then, of course, Maria Alvarez (JR/Ames, La Coruna, Spain). All Maria did over the summer was get better at tennis and get physically stronger, so I am really looking for great things out of Maria this year.
What would you consider your team's strongest suit? How is the chemistry in the team?
I think the team chemistry and the support for each other are our strongest suits. The tennis is going to be the tennis, they are all bright and terrific players. Past that is the character, which is what separates them from everybody else we play. It also reflects on the team and when you get kids with character, you have team chemistry and team comradery, and that is so important. They do not have to be each other's best friends [at all times], but [the main thing is that] they support each other. The older girls have now kind of enveloped the new girls. […] It just gives me chills to think that this is a very solid unit and that everybody is pointing in the same direction, which we did not really have in the first couple of years. Practice would be over and everybody would go in different directions. Now everybody moves together and that will only add to our success this year.
How is the team coming together? Do you already know the lineup for Friday's game?
Last week we worked on doubles with the girls. Doubles is kind of tough because you got to match two kids that had never played together, much less, doubles together. I think that between Caroline and myself looked at it with a critical eye. In college tennis, you play three flights of doubles and those three points can either make or break a match. You sweep them, all you need are two more points to win the match. If you lose or maybe only pick two of those, it kind of gets you back on your heels. One of the things that we are pushing really hard with the entire team this year, both men and women, is intensity and aggressiveness. We are young and we are going to make some mistakes. But if we do the right things and we do what we have been taught in doubles, especially with the new girls, […] they will get the idea and it will be just like a dance, that is what doubles is. You know what I am doing and I know what you are doing. [...] I think that our doubles are going to be very good, I am very excited. Of course, goodness knows what will happen [on Friday], but I am excited the girls have learned quickly. Our singles lineup, as I said earlier, is going to be solid from top to bottom. I feel that the top three girls will step up and I think that our bottom three will be as strong as we have ever been. That is how you win college matches. The number one is always going to play the best of the best. Where you are going to win college matches is at your #2 and #3 doubles, and #2 through #6 singles. It is tough to tell a #1 that they are going to go out and play the best of the best because they think that if they do not win, the team does not win. They always have that pressure on their shoulders but that is not [true] at all. There are nine points available and all we need is five of those. It does not matter if we pick up a point of #1 singles or if we pick up a point of #3 doubles, it is the same value. I have confidence on my singles lineup and I think our doubles pairings are going to be okay. I am excited about that.
How would you describe the competitive level of the team?
One of the unique things about tennis is that you compete for your spot on the lineup and on the team. It is not like football that if you are 6'6" and 285 lbs., you are pretty well set on where you are going to play on the team. Here you are going to have to compete. I suppose is like that in golf, the lower score is going to play higher on the lineup. This is kind of the same thing. Is interesting, you want to be as competitive as you possibly can because you want to play higher on the lineup, but in our challenge matches, you are playing your teammate and friend. We try to separate ourselves from that and we have been very fortunate that our girls are very competitive, and no matter what happens, who wins, who loses, after a match you shake hands with your teammate and we all go away as Blue Devils and that is the main thing. As long as you understand that no matter where you play on that lineup, #1 through #6 singles or #1 through #3 doubles, we all have Lawrence Tech across our chest and we all have the common goal of winning a match together. So if we win #2 and #3 doubles and #1, #4, and #5 singles, that is five points. My concern is not where those points come from, is that we get those points.
Are the teams you are playing this season better than the ones you played on previous seasons?
Each year, with both the men and the ladies, we play a much more aggressive, much more difficult schedule. We can go out an afternoon, beat Division III teams, and be happy with that. Wins are wins. However, we do not learn anything and we do not get any better. Going back in the conversation to your question of going to Nationals, if we are not playing nationally ranked teams, we are not going to get that experience and we are not going to get any better. […] You have to have a strong schedule to make strong players continue progressing after the conference tournament into the national level, so we are playing a much more aggressive and stronger schedule than last year or the year before and so forth.
I saw that both of your teams did an excellent job in the classroom last year. Both teams were NAIA Scholar-Teams. In fact, the women's team had an amazing GPA of 3.49, which was the 4th highest GPA of LTU's athletic teams. How do your players balance school, matches, and practice?
There is a very friendly rivalry between the men's and the women's team regarding the GPA. If the girls get a 3.49, the boys want a 3.50. If the boys get a 3.50, the girls want a 3.51. That is fantastic. What I always tell our kids is "as much as I love you and as good tennis players as you are, nobody is going to the pro tour after graduation. You are always going to be an academic. Get your education. Be as brilliant in the classroom as you are on the tennis court". When I recruit, the only things I can recruit on are brilliance, character, and tennis ability, in that order. Brilliant kids come in with great grades, high GPAs, and high test scores. Character, are they a different kid when I am not watching? They should be the same. How do they carry themselves? They are representing themselves, the tennis team, and LTU. The character aspect is very important to me. At last is the tennis ability. We have been blessed with great tennis players here.
The other thing I stress so deeply during the recruiting process is "you have to be a good time manager". There are 24 hours in the day, eight of those are taken for sleep. You have 16 hours to get everything else done: study tables, classes, homework, weightlifting, two hours of practice, and [having] a social life would be kind of nice too. […] We also travel, we are out of class, and all those things that go with being a college athlete. […] If you have the ability to be a good time manager, you will do very well in college.
Do you have any sports philosophy or an inspirational quote you give your players before every game?
I treat our kids like I want to be treated. My daughter was a college tennis player, so we watched her recruitment process and my philosophy in life is to treat people like you want to be treated. I do that with our kids. We do not have a ton of team rules, but I expect them to follow the ones that we do have. My goal is not so much to make them the best tennis players, I mean I can help them do that, but they need to take advantage of everything around them to be the best students they can be, and my goal is to teach them life lessons. […] My job is 49% coach and 51% surrogate parent; I am their dad when they are here.
