Signing Day Commitments

Many student athletes across the state recently signed letters of intent, officially committing to playing a sport in college. Local high schools often hold events for the media and family members to commemorate the occasion.

This month, we take a look at two Nebraska seniors who committed to play tennis at local colleges. One is playing Division I tennis, and the other playing Division III tennis.

Wichita State commit Bianca Rademacher started taking formal tennis lessons when she was only four years old, but even before that she remembers hitting tennis balls as a toddler in her backyard. Coming from a family of tennis players, she was destined to play the sport.

“With my dad as a college player and coming from a tennis family, it was basically already decided that I would play tennis,” Rademacher said. “I loved watching how the balls bounced, and remember the excitement when making contact with the ball.”

Rademacher was only ten years old when she started traveling to various USTA tournaments in the Missouri Valley region. That’s when her goal of playing Division I tennis started to take shape. She worked hard throughout the year and eventually made the Lincoln East Varsity tennis team. As a freshman, she was already playing number one singles. She won the state title in 2019, her junior year, and officially signed her letter of intent with Wichita State on Nov. 13, 2019. 

“I was playing a tournament in Wichita, and received an email from their coach, asking to talk and informing me he would watch me that weekend,” she remembered. “I had never given much thought to Wichita State before then, but once I got to know the coach, visited the campus, and met the girls I knew it was the school for me.”

Her high school coach said she is one of the hardest workers on the court, and always willing to lead the team by example with her work ethic.

“No matter the task, Bianca has always been the one to give the highest effort, never taking a shortcut,” said Chris Stock, East High boys and girls tennis coach. “That trait alone speaks loud and clear to the entire team about the importance of having high standards and a commitment to excellence.”

Rademacher said her strength is definitely hitting ground strokes from the baseline, and her favorite shot is her backhand. She prefers the strategy of doubles to singles, and can’t wait to play collegiately next fall and improve her game.

“I know being surrounded by girls in the same position as myself, who all are amazingly talented and are so skilled, will improve my game immensely,” she said.

At Wichita State University, she plans to major in health studies since both her parents work in the health field. Until then, she is focused on finishing her senior year strong, perhaps with another state singles title. 

Nebraska Wesleyan commit Ryan Carey first took up tennis as a summer hobby at his local country club. It was a fun way to spend time outside with his friends, but his main sport was always baseball. Eventually things changed and tennis became his main area of concentration at Millard South High School.

“My favorite part about it at first was being able to play with and against all my friends,” he said. “Junior year is when I decided to really get into playing outside of the high school season. I played my first USTA tourney in December of my junior year.”

“Ryan is incredibly self-motivated,” said Jason Rodenberger, Millard South boys and girls tennis coach. “Going into his senior year, he not only wanted to be Millard South’s top singles player, but he wanted to be one of the best players in the state of Nebraska. So, he entered tournaments, participated in camps, and joined clinics—sometimes multiple clinics on the same day—in order to achieve his goal. All of the credit goes to Ryan. His hard work and determination got him to where he is now.”

Many of the other high school coaches took notice of Carey’s improvement over the course of the year and told Rodenberger how impressive it was. College coaches also noticed and Carey signed with Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln on Feb. 5, 2020.

“I decided that I wanted to play in college once I realized how much I loved playing tennis,” Carey said. “My decision was based on where I think I will be able to thrive the most and be able to compete at a high level.”

Carey said his forehand is his best shot, and the one he uses whenever he’s in trouble. During his junior year he played number one doubles, and senior year he played number one singles. He lost in a tight tie-breaker in the second round of the boys state tennis tournament. He hopes to continue working on his game.

“Hard work and dedication led me to the point I’m at now,” he said. “I played about five times a week and some days I would go from one clinic to another. I would always try to play with the players who were better than me, so I could learn from them and take things to add to my game.”

Carey hopes to teach tennis to kids in his spare time and share his love of tennis with them. He plans to study business and sports management at Nebraska Wesleyan. 

Congratulations to these two athletes and all other Nebraska juniors who’ve recently committed to take their game to the collegiate level.