University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Seniors Lead With Different Styles
9/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
The 2015-16 edition of the Gophers women's tennis team will lean on the leadership of three seniors who have all had very different paths of getting to where they are right now.
One is a redshirt senior out of Georgia who sits in the top 25 all-time in Gophers history for most singles victories, another was a walk-on from Colorado when she first stepped onto campus despite being recruited and having offers from other Div. I programs and the third came all the way to the cold lands of Minneapolis, Minn., from Madrid, Spain.
Julia Courter is the only Gopher on the roster to compete in an NCAA Tournament when she did so as a freshman in the 2011-12 season. She has 65 career singles victories sitting 25th all-time in Gophers history and has a chance to keep climbing that list this season. She resides from Lawrenceville, Ga., and had to overcome adversity when she missed her sophomore season due to injury.
"My sophomore year was hard. I was away from home and I had a pretty large surgery and I could not play. Sometimes I probably did not handle it in the best sorts of ways but my friends, teammates and coaches were super supportive," Courter said. "An injury is like a hiccup in the road but you just keep moving forward. I think without the support of my teammates, coaches and family, I would not have been able to make it through everything."
Jessika Mozia came to Minnesota as a walk on from Littleton, Colo., but did not waste any time making an impact on the program her freshman season and earned a scholarship for the next three years. She is just one win away from cracking the top 25 all-time list in singles victories for a career as well.
"Minnesota was actually the first visit that I had and I knew he (at the time Coach Tyler Thomson) did not have any scholarships available but I was still flown out and told by coach 'I do not have any scholarships but you will be a recruited walk-on and treated like everyone else.' Every visit I had after that was nothing like it," Mozia said. "Coming here my expectations were far past exceeded, everyone was very welcoming and swept me under their wing."
Mozia went on to say that she felt she had no pressure that first year being a walk on and just played loose. She picked up 22 singles victories that first season and has continued to be one of the Gophers top players.
"I was glad that I earned the scholarship and it was just a great thing that made me realize what I am capable of doing on the court. I did not expect to have that great of a freshman season to be honest but to have such a great support system from your teammates, family and coaches and to realize that they believe in you and your potential was amazing."
Paula Rincon-Otero came to Minnesota from Spain as a strong international player and has improved every year for the Gophers. Last year she finished 18-9 in singles and 19-14 in doubles play.
"I think once I'm done I will be able to call this the four best years of my life," Rincon-Otero said.
Rincon-Otero talked about her growth not only as a tennis player but in her communications skills laughing as she talked about first coming to Minnesota. "I came here and apparently didn't know how to speak English very well but I learned a lot."
One thing that Rincon-Otero had to adjust to was team play. Before college she played primarily for herself and not on a team which is common in international tennis. She believes she can use her experiences to help out freshman Camila Vargas-Gomez from Lima, Peru make the same adjustment.
Coach Chuck Merzbacher said while did not recruit the three seniors that he was very fortunate to inherit them when he took over the head coach position four seasons ago. He said he believes that they have the opportunity to help take the team to new heights as leaders this season.
"I think Julia has been a real great voice for the team during matches. She is always energizing everybody and really fires up the team. Paula has grown tremendously over the past four years. Her doubles has gone to just another level. Jessika is probably one of the most improved players that I have ever seen. She is a really good leader and the kids really look up to her. She just competes everyday," Merzbacher said.
Courter, Mozia and Rincon-Otero will all look to take their experiences and use them in a leadership role this year to help the Gophers women's tennis program take that next step and get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season. They talked about how they all have different leadership styles but believe that will be beneficial.
"I feel that we're all so different (the seniors that are here now) and that's a good thing because we work really well together," Mozia said.
"It is nice to see the girls grow up. It is funny to see how different freshmen behave and to see how I was and how I am now. I feel a responsibility to teach the freshmen how the team environment is and what they should be doing and to lead by example," Rincon-Otero said.
All three seniors talked about wanting to get to the NCAA Tournament this season. "Since I have been here we have not reached the NCAA's and that is the main goal as a senior to go to a national tournament," Rincon-Otero said.
Courter being the only player on this year's team to ever play in an NCAA Tournament sees a lot of similarities between the team that made it her freshman season and this year's squad.
"My freshman year I feel like everyone was super close and everything was positive and ready to go. I feel the same feeling this year. We are just going to keep building on coming together, pushing each other, looking out for each other and helping each other. Each person is getting better every single day and I feel like that's how we'll get to the NCAA tournament."
The three seniors have big goals for the team off the court as well as on the court as they are going after the Gopher women's team community service award.
"This is something that means a lot to me. Basically our team does get out into the community a lot, individually and as a team. It's a great experience and every time you go out there you definitely have a sense of how lucky we are to be in the positions we are," Courter said.
"Even though we are a small team we do put in a lot of hours for volunteering. Bigger teams get to go out and do it as a team and I think we can orchestrate something like that and get out and do an activity to bond outside of the tennis community," Mozia said.
The team has already been active on getting going with their community service goal at a number of team outings this month. They will get after their on court goals within the next week.
Mozia will hit the courts this weekend at the Gopher Invite while Courter and Rincon-Otero will compete together in doubles at the ITA All-Americans the week after to start their season.
With the fall season just around the corner the final statement from the three seniors was a simple but proud one proclaimed in unison.
"Go Gophs!"
