It was an expectation.

The team has made the Sweet 16 for seven consecutive years — including the last six, with Amanda Augustus as head coach. The Bears’ regular season, like the six seasons before it, has been nothing more than an opening act for the main event.

“Going to the Sweet 16 is part of the culture on our team,” Augustus said.

On Friday, No. 8 Cal will face No. 9 Alabama, whose team made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

For the Bears, the question is still the same as it has been all season: Can they go all the way and deliver Cal its first NCAA championship?

It is not out of the question. As a No. 8 seed, Cal advanced to the title match in 2008 and again in 2009 as the No. 9 seed. Ever since those impressive seasons — Augustus’ first two years as the coach — the Bears have been unable to return to the finals.

As the seeding indicates, the Bears will be the favorite in their matchup against the Crimson Tide. Alabama does not have a singles player on its roster ranked in the top 25, while Cal has both No. 5 Zsofi Susanyi and No. 8 Anett Schutting in the top 10.

The Crimson Tide will be the second SEC opponent that the Bears will play in a row and the second team from the state of Alabama. The Cal squad swept Auburn, 4-0, last Saturday at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley.

If Cal bests the Crimson Tide (21-5) in Urbana, Ill., on Friday, its path will become much more daunting. The Bears will likely have to face top-seeded Florida on Sunday, should they make it to the Elite 8.

The good news for Cal is that the team has been producing its best tennis now than it has been all season. The Bears (18-5) are riding on an eight-match win streak and have brought home 13 victories in their last 14 dual matches.

“If we’re not peaking now, I don’t know,” Augustus said after the Auburn match. “And it seems as some of our health issues are at a place where we can handle them.”

As late as it is in the season, the Bears are healthiest they have ever been. Cal’s top player, fifth-ranked Susanyi, has been in and out of the lineup with a hip flexor injury. Meanwhile, freshman Klara Fabikova, who plays on the No. 2 court in singles and doubles, was hampered early in the season, along with senior Annie Goransson.

All those players were on the court last weekend and appeared to be at full strength.

“I felt good to be back on the court,” Susanyi said. “I feel like I’m 100 percent, and I’m so excited to play.”

The Bears are ready. As they’ve known all along, their dedication and effort all season have been leading up to this weekend.

“We’ll work hard and prepare as we have all season,” Augustus said. “Now it’s just who wants it more.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org

The post Surging Cal women’s tennis aims for Elite Eight against Alabama appeared first on The Daily Californian.

They leave in a much different situation.

Zsofi Susanyi, the No. 5 player in the nation, left her third singles match of the weekend with an injury. Susanyi was battling a hip flexor injury all spring that kept her bouncing in and out of the lineup from week to week.

The details and extent of her injury are unknown at this time — she may have reaggravated her hip or be suffering from something else entirely. But if she misses significant time, it will be a huge blow to a Cal squad that had just begun to find its groove with its star player back in the lineup.

Cal also had two other players in the main singles tournament — Anett Schutting and Klara Fabikova. The two met in the third round of matches, with Schutting taking down the freshman Fabikova, 6-2, 6-4.

Schutting then advanced to take on Krista Hardebeck of Stanford in the semifinals but lost, 6-4, 6-2.

Schutting also competed with her partner Lynn Chi in the doubles championships, where the story was similar. In that tournament, Schutting and Chi were also able to advance to the semifinals but lost to USC’s top duo of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria, who were the top-seeded team coming into the the tournament.

The bright spot of the tournament for the Bears came in the doubles invitational tournament — essentially the tournament for the doubles teams aren’t able to make the main event.

In that tournament, the doubles duo of Annie Goransson and Cecilia Estlander were able to reach the finals. Estlander has rarely played in the spring due to injuries, and the duo had never actually played together before, but they were able to shine.

To get to the finals, Goransson and Estlander had to defeat the top-ranked duo of USC’s Gabi Desimone and Danielle Lao in a 9-7 thriller.

After that, they quickly advanced to the finals and faced the third-seeded duo of Calli Craig and Sarah Pham out of Utah. This match went to the wire. Both teams traded points back and forth until Goransson and Estlander fell 9-8(5) in a tiebreaker.

With that loss, the Bears fell short of their goal of taking home a championship in both of the tournaments.

But the real loss is losing Susanyi. Several Cal players admitted that finally having her back at full strength gave them a boost in confidence. Their confidence has to be taking a hit with Susanyi out yet again.

The good news for the Bears is that they have a week off for Susanyi to get healthy. The NCAAs are the last games that Cal will play all year, but that doesn’t start until well into May. Depending on the extent of her injury, Susanyi could make it back by then.

But tennis is a game of rhythm. Any player who comes back from time off needs matches to get into the groove again — a luxury Susanyi won’t have.

With Susanyi once again missing time, the Bears are left in the same place they were in at the beginning of the season — searching for a way to win without their top player.

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org

The post Susanyi hurt again as Cal women’s tennis falls short in Pac-12 Championships appeared first on The Daily Californian.

But before the players can do that, they have one last match to play.

Due to a scheduling quirk, Cal (15-5, 9-1 in the Pac-12) will take on UCSB in Santa Barbara at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Though the Gauchos (14-7) have put together a decent record over the season, their schedule has been filled with unranked and unaccomplished teams. Without a ranked player on the roster, they will have a tough chance competing against Cal, which has four ranked players and two in the top 10.

The match is an odd hiccup for the Bears in a schedule otherwise consisting of weekend matches. But the Tuesday match gives them a chance to hone their skills for the postseason. Two days after the UCSB match, the team will be in Ojai, Calif., for the Pac-12 Championships.

After the win over Stanford, the Cal team feels like it is close to peaking, and the players plan to use this UCSB match as a springboard to bring their level of play to its full potential.

“I think we’re finally gelling the way we need to,” said Cal coach Amanda Augustus. “Our goal is to peak in the (NCAA) Tournament.”

The match gives many of the players a chance to practice more in doubles, in which Cal has lost the doubles point in both of its last two matches. Zsofi Susanyi recently returned from injury, and her getting more playing time with her doubles partner, Klara Fabikova, should help the duo gel the way Augustus wants.

“(Susanyi and Fabikova) just need matches,” Augustus said. “Hopefully next week, they get a lot of matches doubleswise to just kinda get them better in sync.”

Those two in sync will be a huge asset for the team. The Cal team has been regularly facing 1-0 deficits going into singles play as a result of losses in doubles.

But while the Bears are struggling in doubles, they are dominating in singles action. The team has won at least four of the six singles courts in its last four matches. Cal has used that dominance to bail itself out of early deficits and win matches.

Susanyi back on the court is a boost for the entire team. As the current No. 5 singles player in the country, Susanyi at full strength gives the other players a leap in confidence.

“Now that we have Zsofi back, we can definitely see what is possible for us,” said senior Tayler Davis. “Because before, without her, I think we weren’t as confident.”

A win against UCSB would build off the momentum that Cal gained from beating Stanford and would send the team into the postseason with a six-game winning streak and as much confidence as any team in the field.

“I think we’ve prepared really well and worked so hard for a long time now,” said senior Annie Goransson. “We’ll just see how far we can take it.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org

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After four years of consecutive losses, No. 9 Cal was finally able to topple its rival, No. 12 Stanford, 4-3, on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley.

After USC won its match against UCLA, the Cal-Stanford match was no longer for the conference title but instead for second place. The win secures Cal (15-5, 9-1 in the Pac-12) the runner-up finish in the conference, but more importantly, the match was the first time that any of the players on the Cal squad were able to beat the Cardinal (16-4, 8-2).

From the beginning of the match, the walls of Hellman reverberated with desire — both teams wanted it badly.

“I’m a very emotional person, and as expected, I cried a little bit in that opening (senior day) ceremony,” said senior Tayler Davis. “But I knew I was going to do everything I could to win this match because it meant that much to me.”

Stanford was the faster, stronger team in doubles and won on the top two doubles courts to take an early 1-0 lead.

But in singles, Cal began to climb back. The Bears soon found themselves in a 2-2 tie with three courts left in play after Lynn Chi and Zsofi Susanyi won their matches on courts No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. But Anett Schutting lost her match on the top court, knotting up the two Bay Area squads.

With Klara Fabikova pushed into a third set on court No. 2, seniors Davis and Annie Goransson had a chance to clinch the match for the Bears.

After winning a tiebreaker in the first set, Davis won the second set and her match when Stanford’s Ellen Tsay hit a ball into the net.

“I don’t think I could have asked for a better senior day for it to come down to me and Annie,” said Davis, who could not stop smiling after the win. “It was just a great feeling. I don’t think I can really describe it.”

Cal was up 3-2, and Goransson had the opportunity to clinch the match for the Bears against Stanford’s Natalie Dillon. A crowd congregated around the No. 6 court, and the match started to turn in Goransson’s favor.

“I love having a lot of people supporting me and screaming,” Goransson said. “I don’t know what happens, but I love that situation, and I raised my level quite a bit.”

With a crowd behind her, Goransson erased a 4-2 deficit in the second set and soon found herself up 6-5 on match point.

Dillon, off-balance, hit a ball high into the air. It hung in the sky forever before dropping just out of bounds.

The crowd erupted into a cheer as Goransson dropped her racket and her team rushed to embrace her.

Cal clinched its first win over the Cardinal since 2009.

“I just got this happy feeling throughout my entire body,” Goransson said, “and I looked at my teammates who I love so much, and I saw them coming towards me. I’m never going to get that kind of feeling again.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org.

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Rivalry match? Check. Top-15 teams? Check. Possible title on the line? Check.

When the Cal women’s tennis team takes on Stanford on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex at 12:30 p.m., the stakes will be as high as they have been for any match this season.

The match could determine a share of the conference title.

At the same time Cal and Stanford are battling, USC will be playing its own rival in UCLA. If the Trojans lose that match, then the winner of the Cal-Stanford match will share the Pac-12 title with USC.

Although USC is favored over UCLA and beat the Bruins earlier in the season, anything can happen in a rivalry match — something the No. 9 Bears are fully aware of.

Despite Cal’s superior ranking, the No. 12 Cardinal (16-3, 8-1 in the Pac-12) have had the Bears’ number in recent years.

Cal has dropped its last seven dual meets against the Cardinal. The Bears (14-5, 8-1) have not beaten Stanford since April of 2009 — including a loss to the Cardinal in Palo Alto in March.

In that loss, Cal was without sophomore Zsofi Susanyi and senior Annie Goransson, both of whom will play in Friday’s tilt.

Susanyi is the No. 5 singles player in the country, and since her return from injury, she has yet to drop a singles match.

Goransson returned immediately after that match against Stanford and has gone 7-2 in singles since, jumping between courts No. 5 and No. 6.

The return of those two players gives the Bears the advantage of being able to tinker with their lineup in ways they couldn’t in their last match with the Cardinal.

“We’re making a couple of adjustments in doubles,” said Cal Coach Amanda Augustus. “And we’ll definitely give Stanford a different look singleswise.”

It’s been so long since Cal beat Stanford that the two seniors on the squad — Goransson and Tayler Davis — have never done so.

Unless Cal ends up hosting the first rounds of the NCAAs, this will be its last match in Hellman as well as its last chance to knock off Stanford.

“Annie and Tay have contributed tremendously to the success of the program over the last four years,” Augustus said. “To have both of our seniors out there on the court competing on senior day is exciting.”

For Goransson, beating Stanford for the first time in her four years at Cal would be the ultimate farewell.

“That would be pretty big,” Goransson said. “I know we have a good chance, and if we were to beat them, though, that would mean a lot to me. And a lot to the team.”

But Goransson is not focused on the end of her career just yet. She is still working so that Cal can have success in the tournaments that come after the regular season.

“(Playing tennis for Cal has) meant so much to me, it’s hard to express it,” Goransson said. “But I’m not thinking too much about it right now because we have the NCAAs and everything coming up.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org

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The No. 15 Bears moved to 8-4 on the season, including winning five of their last six, when they convincingly beat San Diego State 6-1 on Sunday at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego.

The most impressive performance in the victory was Annie Goransson’s 6-0, 6-0 win over San Diego State’s Michela Casanova on the sixth court. Goransson is returning from a back injury that sidelined her for the first month of the season.

This is her third match into her return, and she’s won every match in convincing fashion since she’s been back.

“She has three years of playing a lot of matches for Cal,” said Cal coach Amanda Augustus. “So she knows what it takes.”

The team has been easing Goransson back into the lineup, which explains her play on the sixth court and her absence from doubles over the last two weeks.

With the kind of impressive wins she has had recently, her return to full action could be close.

Not every player dominated like Goransson, however.

Though lopsided, the match was not without its moments of drama. Freshman Lynn Chi was pushed into a third set for the second match in a row and pulled off a late victory. Her win gave Cal its fourth point and sealed the victory for the Bears.

Junior Anett Schutting was also pushed into a third set. After winning her first set but dropping her second, Schutting found herself to be the last Bear standing as she faced San Diego State’s Julia Wais.

When she finally won the third set, 6-2, the match was over, and Cal had a 6-1 victory.

Klara Fabikova, Tayler Davis and Tami Nguyen all won their matches in straight sets for the Bears. Cal took two of the three doubles matches to clinch the doubles point.

The advantage for the Bears in the nearly four-hour match was their endurance. Whenever a match lasted for a while or went into a third set, Cal was able to capitalize.

“There is no time element in tennis, so you have to be able to stay out there as long as you need to in order to win the match,” Augustus said. “Generally when you play other top teams, the matches are close, they last three sets.”

This preparation for long matches is mental as well as physical.

“You know you can make any adjustments if needed,” Augustus said, “in case you start out slow or the girl comes out and plays tough against you.”

Against San Diego State, those preparations came into use as the Bears found themselves up against an aggressive team that wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The Aztecs consistently played close to the net, and in response, the Bears changed the pace of the match.

Those adjustments that Cal made on each court proved to be key, as the team played better in later sets on almost every court.

“Some matches, you can just try different things and see what works,” Augustus said.

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org.

The post Capitalizing on endurance, Cal women’s tennis wins third straight appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The situation is so rare that senior Tayler Davis does not remember it having happened before in her time at Cal.

“This is actually our first time, I think, just going to play one match,” Davis said. “It is weird to go one day and leave the next day, because normally we’re there for three days.”

Cal coach Amanda Augustus agrees that the situation is out of the ordinary, but she is determined to take advantage of it.

“It’s a little bit unusual, but it has allowed us to have a little heavier training week with our off-court work,” Augustus said. “We were actually able to do a little bit more conditioning, some sprinting, some things that if you were playing a ton of points where you’d be going back and forth you’d do already.”

No. 15 Cal (7-4, 2-0 in the Pac-12), will be heavily favored over a San Diego State (6-3) team that ranks outside of the top 50. While the Aztecs are coming off of three straight wins, they have not faced any ranked teams in that stretch, and their overall record has been bloated by relatively easy opponents.

While this should be a routine match for the Bears, the lighter workload does change things a bit for the squad.

One of the advantages to tennis is that the teams have the opportunity to play a lot of matches. If a player does poorly in one match, often she can come back the very next day with a chance to work on her mistakes and redeem herself.

While this could be a frustrating change of pace for the team, the longer week of practice will give players a chance to work on specific areas in which they feel they need to improve.

“We’re still working on our ball movement, we’re working on our overheads, we’re working on our serves in doubles as well,” Augustus said. “We like small adjustments and a little extra emphasis because there’s so many things in tennis you can work on.”

The lighter load should also give the Bears a chance to get healthy. This year, several Bears have been dealing with minor and major injuries alike, from Alice Duranteau’s nagging ankle problems to Annie Goransson’s back injury that kept her sidelined for the first month of the season.

“It kinda allows the couple girls that we have that are nursing small injuries to get healthier.” Augustus said. “So that’s a good thing.”

If the Bears can finally overcome their health issues and return to full strength, this lighter week could benefit them for the rest of the season.

And with the extra time, the players are looking to relax a little when they arrive in San Diego. Tayler Davis already has the forecast on her mind.

“We were looking into the zoo, or SeaWorld, or maybe the beach, because I think it’s supposed to be sunny — 78, I think,” Davis said, smiling. “So we’re looking forward to getting a little tan.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org

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Nobody could have expected the dominating performance that the team turned in. Cal dropped only three sets in the opening of Pac-12 play as it crushed both Washington State and Washington.

On Friday, Cal (7-4, 2-0 in the Pac-12) made quick work of Washington State (10-4, 0-2), sweeping the doubles matches and winning on five of the six singles courts to finish the match, 6-1. The next day, the Bears looked even more impressive against Washington (8-4, 0-2) en route to a 7-0 sweep.

Anett Schutting, playing on the top court in Susanyi’s absence, defeated Washington State’s Liudmila Vasielieva 6-0, 6-2. Her encore to that performance was a 6-1, 6-1 decimation of Washington’s Andjela Nemcevic the next day, the only ranked player Cal had to face all weekend.

“I think she did such a good job today of taking control of that match and not letting that girl in the match at all,” said Cal coach Amanda Augustus. “You can see the confidence, and she’s starting to feel more comfortable playing on the top court.”

Schutting also was victorious in both of her doubles matches of the weekend, playing on the top court with freshman Lynn Chi.

“We like their chemistry,” Augustus said. “We like the base that they’ve developed so far. Each week, our goal is to just keep adding to their game.”

The weekend also featured senior Annie Goransson’s return to singles. Though still recovering from a back injury, Goransson looked to be near 100 percent when she won both of her matches on the sixth court easily.

“Being out playing again is just such a reward for all the hard work I’ve put in and people around me have helped me with,” said Goransson.

Cal’s other senior — Tayler Davis — also played well. She has quietly put together a singles record of 6-1 this season, mostly on the fourth court.

The only match Cal lost was when Alice Duranteau played Washington State’s Olga Musilovich on the fifth court. In one of the most intense matches that Hellman Tennis Complex has seen over the last few weeks, Duranteau was able to win the second set and push the match into a tie-breaker. After a few balls hit the net, the long match was over, and Musilovich emerged victorious.

“It’s very different being the last Bear standing,” Duranteau said. “The match was already over, but my team was so supportive that I was just trying to get through that match and keep fighting as hard as I could.”

Even with all of Cal’s great performances, the team always sees areas to improve.

“For a tennis player, it’s never perfect — you always want to do a little bit better,” Augustus said. “To get our first conference win under our belts back on our home courts, I thought they did a good job today.”

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Once again, the Cal women’s tennis team had to compete without their top player in Zsofi Susanyi, who is missing time with a minor strain. And once again, it was a split weekend for the Bears.

On Friday, the Bears dominated Sacramento State in a 7-0 sweep, but was upset by rival Stanford, 6-1, the next day in Palo Alto.

The loss marks the seventh time in a row that the Bears fell to the Cardinal, dating back to April of 2009. With the loss, Cal falls to 5-4 as Stanford improves to 5-2 on the season.

With Pac-12 play not started yet, the game against Stanford will be a nonconference match and will not impact the conference standings.

But it will no doubt impact the ITA collegiate rankings. With the loss, No. 9 Cal will most likely drop out of the top 10.

Despite the disappointment, one of the bright spots of the weekend was the return of senior Annie Goransson, who has sat out so far during the season with a back injury.

“She looked great,” Cal Coach Amanda Augustus said. “She’s hitting the ball really well, I think that bodes well going forward.”

Goransson and her senior teammate Tayler Davis won both of their doubles matches, including the only doubles match the Cal won against Stanford.

“Next week hopefully, (Goransson) keeps progressing and we see her back in singles as well,” said Augustus.

Susanyi, however, was not able to make a return from her back injury. She sat out the doubles and singles on both matches. This marks four straight matches that Cal has had to compete without their top player. With wins over USC and Sacramento State, it looked like the Bears had found out how to win without Susanyi, until Stanford took advantage.

The Cardinal won the doubles point and set the tone early, putting Cal on the defensive.

“Once they won the doubles point they came out even stronger in the singles while we had to rebound from not winning the doubles point,” Augustus said.

From there on the Cardinal picked apart the Bears in singles and clinched the victory relatively quickly.

Susanyi’s absence definitely hurt Cal. However, Augustus didn’t blame injuries on Cal’s disappointing performance.

“That was definitely not the determining factor in this match,” Augustus said of Susanyi’s absence. “It’s definitely more challenging playing without our No. 1 player.”

Alice Duranteau provided Cal with its lone point against Stanford — winning her singles match on court six while recovering from an ankle injury.

“She’s been getting better each match,” Augustus said. “Once she was able to work out the right tactics to use in the second set she basically took control.”

Though the score looks one-sided, the Bears feel they can make adjustments and improve.

“All the matches on every court were competitive, singles and doubles,” Augustus said. “We’ll take this match, and it shows us where we’re at and what we need to work on.”

Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org.

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Annie Goransson was posed the hypothetical question of “How can we make the campus more sustainable?” in a landscape architecture class last year. Then, the senior on the Cal women’s tennis found her passion.

As Goransson continued to learn about the ongoing environmental issues occurring today, she became interested in environmental issues and environmental politics.

“I felt upset when I learned about all these issues,” Goransson says. “I decided that if it’s something I’m interested in, than it should be something that I should continue with.”

All her life in Sweden, Goransson has had close encounters with nature. She hails from Höllviken, a small resort town on the Swedish coast nearby neighboring Denmark.

Growing up, her family regularly traveled around the world. Back in Hollviken, the Goranssons would go on hikes and ski trips.

“I’ve always loved going on hikes and being out in nature,” Goransson says. “I think that comes from my family.”

Her upbringing was not only instrumental in environmentalism but also in tennis. Goransson’s entire family has played tennis, with her parents and brothers playing as high as the collegiate and professional levels.

Goransson’s decision to play collegiately in the United States was an easy one for her despite the rigours of being a student-athlete at Cal. In fact, it was exactly what Goransson signed up for.

“It might have been easier to just play tennis.” Goransson says. “But having multiple things in your life that are important to you is nice.”

Upon deciding to attend Cal, she initially didn’t know what she wanted to study. She eventually settled on society and the environment with a focus on global environmental politics as her area of concentration.

Very quickly, it became clear tennis wasn’t the only area in which she had an emotional investment.

“She’s one of the team members that have taken advantage of all the opportunities at Cal,” head coach Amanda Augustus says. “She’s following her passion, but also finding ways to learn and grow everyday.”

And once environmentalism took a hold of her, the floodgates opened.

Goransson had found a way to make an environmental impact in her own backyard: the tennis courts.

Goransson sought a way to provide Cal tennis courts with recycling bins. She began drafting a research proposal and sent it to the Green Initiative Fund. After multiple drafts and rewrites, Goransson was awarded a grant by the Green Initiative Fund for her proposal of making Cal tennis more environmentally friendly.

The grant will provide 20 recycling bins to be placed on every other court at the Hellman Tennis Complex, Hearst Tennis Courts and Channing Tennis courts.

“You feel good when you’re helping the environment,” said Goransson. “Even when it’s something little like this.”

This was only the beginning, though. While still in the midst of project development, Goransson is currently working on a research project that has the potential to make a global impact on tennis.

The goal: make tennis balls a zero-waste product, something that can reused and recycled.

Currently, 300 million tennis balls are produced every year. Of those 300 million, 125 million are used in the U.S. alone.

There’s a hitch. As of now, after a tennis ball loses its bounce they are disposed of and eventually end up in landfills. There are some programs that re-use balls and transform them into toys for dogs or cushions on chair legs. Yet even those balls eventually end up in landfills.

“I’m looking to see if there is a more sustainable way to play tennis,” Goransson says. “What’s the environmental impact (of tennis balls)? Is there a better way?

“It’s crucial; to live in a sustainable way for future generations. My goal is to hopefully do something in the future to make an impact.”

It may have started off small, but she has made an impact on her team. Augustus says the team is more aware about the ongoing issues and definitely recycles a whole lot more.

Using her role as a team leader, Goransson places a premium on educating her teammates on the environment issues she is passionate about in order to one-day impact the entire tennis community.

Through her hard work both on and off the court, Goransson has earned the respect of all of her teammates. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she has amassed a 67-25 singles record and a 58-29 doubles record in her collegiate career.

“Annie has always been a leader for us,” Augustus said. “She sets an example for the younger players. Once she graduates, that’ll be a huge hole to fill.”

Competitiveness isn’t always confined to a court though.

For Goransson, her competitive nature and focus is what can make her so successful in her future endeavours, even outside the realm of tennis.

“I’m pretty competitive in everything I do,” Goransson said. “On the court, I’m really focused on what I’m doing and I don’t let anything get in my way. I think that relates to off the court. I’m always focused on one thing at a time.”

As graduation nears for Goransson, she will need to find another outlet for that competitiveness.

After the spring season and graduation, Goransson plans to go back home to Sweden before applying to graduate schools throughout Europe. Back home waits her family that has played a significant role in not only her tennis, but also her interests in saving the planet.

Goransson’s plans after graduate school aren’t clear. She doesn’t know whether she will play tennis professionally. One thing’s for certain, though: she knows she wants to get involved with politics and environmental issues.

Goransson isn’t sure how she’ll go about that process, but she understands that environmental issues aren’t going to be solved on their own.

She knows it’s going to take a real leader to make an impact.

“The environment needs somebody to take a step and really do something,” Goransson said.

Annie Goransson might just be that somebody.

Sean Wagner-McGough covers women’s tennis. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org

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