USTA Section: Midwest
Roster:
Adriane Brillantes - Sophomore
Kirstin Byszkowski - Sophomore
Adam Caceres - Senior
Davide Iacobelli - Grad
Jordan Keller - Senior
Ana Mancoci - Senior
Stephanie Thomas - Sophomore
Lauren Waldie - Freshman
McKenzie Walsh - Freshman
Paul Zlojutro - Sophomore
USTA.com: When did you discover that you had the talent to win as a team?
Off the court. We discovered we had the social skills to win the USTA Midwest Tennis On Campus Sportsmanship Award!
USTA.com: How does your team unwind after a day of matches?
We normally relax at dinner and then hit up the hotel’s Jacuzzi and talk about the day that was.
USTA.com: When you qualified, how did you celebrate?
We found out we qualified during our car ride home from Wisconsin. Our seven-hour car ride definitely felt less lengthy with all cheering and happiness, as well as the many phone calls we made to let everyone know the great news!
USTA.com: Tell us a bit about how your school is unique?
Our school held the 2011 Republican Presidential Candidate Debate and some of our team members volunteered at it. David Hasselhoff attended Oakland University, and we also have the Meadow Brook Mansion, which is a national historical landmark.
USTA.com: How does your team fundraise? Do you serve your local community in a meaningful way?
Our team fundraised by helping out the SUMMIT Swimming and Diving Championship this year at Oakland University. We also did a Gordon Foods pie sale. We had a rock and roll benefit show at a lounge where we sold raffle tickets. We also are sponsored by Romedica LLC.
USTA.com: If you were to list three specific things that need to happen in order to win a National Championship, they would be:
- Carry out good communication and teamwork.
- Focus on our game plan and then execute come match time.
- Have fun!
USTA.com: How do you exhibit school spirit?
We enjoy wearing Oakland University gear, painting our faces and supporting our teammates by cheering them on during their matches. We also attend a fair amount of school events as well.
USTA.com: Share with us a funny story about your team or team member(s).
Finding out about winning the Sportsmanship Award had humorous fallout. On the drive home from Regionals, Adriane, one of our team members, was checking out his Facebook news feed. Very calmly, without any expression on his face, he read aloud the update from USTA Midwest: "It’s official that Oakland University has won the Sportsmanship Award, they are going to Nationals." We all started laughing thinking he is poking fun at us, since we all knew we did not have a chance of going to Nationals due to losing all of our matches.
At this point Adriane said: "No, guys, for real." We took his phone, re-read the update that was posted on Facebook and suddenly it sunk in. We all started cheering and we couldn’t believe it was actually real! Adriane was laughing, of course, because we did not believe him when he told us.
USTA.com Share with us an uplifting story about your team or team member(s).
Our team is culturally diverse. We have an Indian on the team, a Romanian, a Canadian and a Serb. Our car rides are always fun and they seem shorter than what they really are since we always have differences in our point of views when discussing how we do certain things.