Emily Harman can serve a tennis ball 120 mph, faster than she can legally drive a car.

As a freshman, she spent 20 of her 22 matches at Syracuse’s No. 1 singles spot. She was selected for the All-Big East Team in her first year of collegiate play.

This year she is even better.

Already this season the 5-foot-9 sophomore from Petersburg, W.Va, beat Rutgers’ Amy Zhang, 6-2, 6-2, an opponent she lost to in a third-set tie-breaker last year. She came off her first weekend with pristine 3-0 records in both singles and doubles play.

Her progress is due in part to the six pounds of muscle she gained since last year, her improved ground strokes and quicker footwork. But the biggest difference in her game this year is less tangible than that. Both coach Luke Jensen and captain Christina Tan said that Harman’s maturity and confidence are what will make her better than she was last year.

‘She’s definitely grown mentally,’ Tan said. ‘She can handle pressure and adversity better on the court. In tight situations, she has a little bit more edge even when she’s playing tougher opponents. I think her fight has improved, too.’

Control and poise are things that Harman, who in large part is self-taught, could not learn from watching video. She attributed a great deal of her improvement in those areas to the SU coaching staff and her teammates. Her maturity manifests itself both in match play and at practice.

Come game time, she has been able to eliminate outside distractions, something she said she occasionally struggled with last year. Jensen said that she is also learning to manage her strength and to be more selective with her powerful strokes.

‘It’s just the understanding of when to use (her power) and when not to use it and just playing things nice and conservative and waiting for your opportunity,’ Jensen said. ‘So I think this year as compared to last year, she’s able to use her weapons more wisely than before.’

In practice, Harman has learned to maximize her time to focus on her weaknesses instead of working on what she is already good at.

‘My goal is to be the absolute best I can be every single day,’ Harman said.

This attitude contributes to her success on the team and in tournament play. Over the summer, Jensen is not there to ensure his players are staying in shape and working on their game. It is their responsibility to do so on their own.

Harman spent her summer playing pro tournaments, so she was able to test her mental game. It appears to have paid off, as she has swept all three of her singles matches this year.

Jensen said that she leads by example and that she is very pointed in her advice to other players. She picks her moments and her words carefully so that when she does have something to share, is it relevant and poignant.

‘She definitely raises the intensity of the team,’ Tan said. ‘She’s very focused, and she’s very driven when she’s on the court. She’s not super rowdy or loud, but she gets things done and people really take notice of that.’

Harman’s sophomore year is shaping up to be nothing short of dominant. She is a health and exercise science major and enjoys science and medicine, but she considers this career path Plan B. Barring injury, she plans to keep playing tennis and see where it takes her.

Jensen believes that this dream is likely to come to fruition. He said that he expects to see her in the US Open next year, and after that, he predicts she will improve even further.

‘In 10 years, if she’s not No. 1 in the world I’d be surprised,’ Jensen said.

alguggen@syr.edu