Harman bounces back from doubles loss, leads SU tennis to win over Bucknell
Photo/Mark Nash
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Emily Harman already had one loss on her résumé on the day. As a member of a doubles team with Chelsea Jones, Harman and her partner fell in a close match to Bucknell Sunday afternoon at Drumlins Tennis Center. As the No. 2 singles player for the Orange, though, Harman couldn’t let it bog her down.
‘I just needed to forget about it and move on to the next thing,’ Harman said. ‘Obviously, it was disappointing, but it was also a motivator to come out and get a redemption match against one of the girls that I played.’
She didn’t let this one get away.
Harman won her tightly contested match (6-3, 6-4), one of the five singles wins for SU in a 6-1 victory over the Bison. She bounced back from a tough tiebreaker loss in the No. 1 doubles match.
‘She’s a very hard-nosed player when we’re on the court, and I think she reacted pretty well,’ said Jones, who did not play in the singles round. ‘She didn’t carry that loss into her singles match and she didn’t let it affect her. She has so much confidence that a few balls here and there won’t get her down.’
With the outcome of the overall match still in doubt at the time, Harman took the court just 10 minutes after the tough loss. Harman and her opponent held serve for most of the first set, and she led 4-3 with a chance to win a big break point. Although she tended to rely on her powerful stroke to win points in the doubles match, Harman laid down a perfectly placed drop shot to win the game. She held serve again in the next game to win the first set.
While the Orange would secure the team victory early in Harman’s second set, she refused to let up. She said she did not let her teammates’ matches affect her play.
‘Our coaches definitely train us to take one point at a time and never play any match different,’ Harman said. ‘We know that (every match) is always going to be important.’
Despite her resolve to play her own game, Harman was broken for the first time early in the second set and trailed 2-0. She came back furiously, breaking twice and holding her dominating serve for the rest of the match. Her onslaught of powerful slams caused her opponent to throw up her hands in frustration after the latest one flew by her.
Head coach Luke Jensen loves Harman’s intensity and said that was a reason why he had confidence in her after the crushing doubles loss.
‘She intimidates because she brings such an aggressive game plan to the court every single time,’ Jensen said. ‘If she executes her game, she’s going to win, and it’s as cut and dry as that.’
Harman’s bounce-back singles win was another step in the development of her game. She has what she calls ‘a huge weapon’ in her serve, which she said tops out at 112 miles per hour, but she wants to become a more complete player.
‘How I won today was my big serve and volleys, but tomorrow it might be something else,’ Harman said. ‘What I like about who I’m turning into is that I can adjust myself and still get the win.’