Getting Closer Together Right From the Start

Everything involved – especially for a freshman student-athlete – feels like a lot. The acclimation to the next level of the sport they love and the educational process they now undertake. Learning a new town and getting accustomed to having teammates as a tennis player.

New is the norm of life. Even what being on time means. For Stella Simpson-Morgan, it used to be if she was supposed to be someplace at 5 p.m., that was when she arrived.

"It's definitely overwhelming at the beginning, but the team definitely has helped me kind of like find my way through campus, find my way through early morning practices. Like D (Diana Lizarazo), for example, when I did my official visit, she's one of the few that is still here. And she reached out to me and said, 'look, if you need help with anything, I've got you. I've experienced the freshmen spring semester too.'

"She kind of knew what was, what the deal was. And I've learned to be here 15 minutes early and that's on time and all that stuff. So, it's definitely helped me with a lot of different qualities."

Mai-Ly Tran has reconstructed her team from a year ago. There are two extra members and only a trio of returners. The largest class on the team is the one Simpson-Morgan is part of. Three transfers bolsters the lineup, too.

The Rams' season started with Friday's Jon Messick Invitational, their home show. The past month has been about learning each other as personalities and a bit as players. The action on the court expanded their knowledge of each other in the latter regard even further. Doubles partners were new to each other, and all four pairings Tran put on the court will change when Saturday's second day of play takes place at the CSU Tennis Complex.

Each of the pairings won at least one match, with the tandem of Sorcha Caves and Luana Avelar winning Flight A, beating Chicago's Oliwia Mikos and Charlotte Klein 6-2.

This wasn't Caves' first rodeo at the Messick, just as a Ram. Her first two trips to the tourney were with South Dakota, so the format and the courts were familiar, but it wasn't the best part of changing colors.

"There's fans that come out and it's so nice being able to play as a home team. Because we never actually had a home fall event so having a home event is really fun," she said. "It's fun to see all the work that the girls have put into training on the court today.

"Getting to see how everyone plays on the court and how everyone likes the motivation from each other, is good. It's been really good today. We've all actually come so close in this first month and it's so nice to see."

For her, that's the importance of the fall season, new team or not. It's about getting back in the flow, finding what works with teammates until you land a permanent doubles partner. Every time on the court, they're focused on winning, but the importance of doing so carries more of a weight in the spring when duals are being played.

Creating a team, that's what is really important in the next few months as they play five fall events.

"I think especially in the fall season it's so important to create that team bond. Especially, we're quite a new team, so bringing a lot of new people in, we've blended so well," she said. "I think those are days we're going to remember."

Simpson-Morgan can always carry with her the knowledge she won her first collegiate match as a singles player – 6-4, 6-2 against Tina Kintirogluou of Chicago. The fact she trailed early and had to make an adjustment created a bigger point of pride by explaining being on her own doesn't always bring out her best mentally.

Consider it an early step forward, giving credit to those who supported her.

"It's like through that match, I was struggling down, 3-0, 4-1 in the first set. I thought, just try to make goals, see what happens. Then hearing Hannah (Haber), hearing the sidelines will have my back the whole time was nice," she said. "Whether I was down 4-1 or I was up 5-1 in the second set, it really helped me get through the match and focus on other things besides that terrible shot I just hit or whatever else.

"Well, even to Coach Mai-Ly, she kind of knows that I have struggled with confidence in singles a lot more compared to doubles, which is kind of funny because today going into it, I still didn't have as much confidence, but I was playing a girl that I kind of knew from juniors, so she's kind of familiar to me. And I didn't know how it was going to go. I still started off kind of slow, but then I started finding myself, finding my confidence, which was with help from (assistant coach) Scott (Langs) and Coach, the team -- all of the like combination of all the outside sources really helped."

Not all freshman stories are the same. Truth be told, Dylan Voeks had a bit of a head start on her classmates, her older sister, Logan, being a junior on the squad. Dylan has been around and knew the returners and was familiar with Tran and the campus.

She and Anni Amalnathan both won their first singles matches as well, both needing three sets. Amalnathan won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 against Riya Singh of Chicago, while Voeks claimed a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Air Force's Joselyn Limbago.

Mark it down as Logan's coaching debut, too. Out this fall recovering from an injury, the older sibling was by her sister's side the entire match – quite touching to watch for Tran. The two sisters were smiling throughout, even after bad points.

"That was amazing. She helped a ton," Dylan said. "She knows my game inside and out just by watching me and knows me as a person and how to calm me down and all that, so it was unbelievably helpful. It helps. That's the best way to play tennis is to smile on your face.

"It's what I want. If I'm smiling, I'm not in my head."

It was organic, too. There was no plan for Logan to coach her sister, it just happened because so many CSU players were in action at one time, Logan kinda stepped into the role.

From Dylan's perspective, she sees a future there.

"She was good," said Dylan, before adding the sibling dig. "She's a better coach than sister."

As expected, the team was good. Not just on the court, but in every team you want a roster to be. Encouraging, respectful, and each one of them spent the day getting to know each other better, because personalities will differ from matches to practices.

Accordingly, teammates need to know how to act in each situation, what the other person needs, whether they are playing doubles together or watching someone play a singles match.

In every way possible, Dylan feels the Rams grew closer on the day.

"I think that everyone just truly wanted everyone to win. Everyone was just as stressed for everyone else," she said. "I had so many people turn to me while we were watching – 'oh, my gosh, I'm so stressed for her during big points.' I feel like everyone was sharing emotions and that connects people and connects a team."

The result being the next day out won't feel like so much to any of them.

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