Elon University women’s tennis player Briana Berne, in her final season with the Phoenix, has known exactly what she’s wanted ever since the team first gathered this fall.
“Every day we’re reiterating that we want to get a ring,” Berne said. “We want to win the conference tournament, and the regular season, all that, because it would be the first time. I know I want to see it done before I graduate.”For Berne, sweeping the Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships would be the ideal way to cap off her distinguished collegiate career.
“I know how much we all want it,” Berne said. “And after four years, you get closer and closer and you want to go out the right way. I feel like we’re going to do it this year. Why shouldn’t we? We work our butts off.”
The Phoenix bounced back from their opening loss to then eighth-ranked University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Tar Heels by rattling off five consecutive victories. Head coach Elizabeth Anderson attributes her team’s success to their continued maturity, as well as their getting acclimated to the demands of collegiate tennis.
“We have a very mature group,” Anderson said. “They know now what’s expected in college tennis and what they need to do to achieve the results that they want to achieve and I think they’ve made a lot of progress toward that.”
Despite the lopsided loss to the Tar Heels, Berne understands how valuable the experience of playing one of the top teams in the nation, who recently won the Women’s Tennis Indoor Championship, will be for her team down the stretch.
“It’s a different level,” Berne said. “It was just a good experience to go out there and see them warm up, see them play, see their demeanor on the court. It’s always fun. It’s never too bad to fight and lose to a team like that.”
The Phoenix was able to avenge their loss to North Carolina by taking down fellow Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse Wake Forest University three days later, on Jan. 26. The match featured a furious Phoenix comeback, down three matches to one at a point, to upset the Demon Deacons.
“We were down 3-1 at one point and we had three matches left on the court in third sets,” junior Jordan Johnston said. “Literally one point [and] momentum changed in our favor and we went berserk after the win. It was great. It was one of my favorite memories here at Elon.”
Johnston credits that victory with getting her team back to their winning ways.
“That win completely boosted our confidence,” Johnston said. “It showed us that, ‘Hey, we can play with the big guys.’ If we can beat a team like Wake, in the ACC, that gives us confidence to go out there and play against the Southern Conference and do our best.”
For Berne, the win proved her team could win a close match, away from home, against one of the country’s elite programs.
“It’s like when you’re in a tough match like that you kind of remember, ‘OK, I’ve worked long and hard for this, my teammates want this, I want this, there’s no reason why I can’t win this match and why I shouldn’t.’”
Johnston is also encouraged by her team’s ability to win matches on the road, the Phoenix having already won three of their early season matches away from the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
“Winning on the road, especially against some of the teams we haven’t had a lot of experience playing, like [the University of] Richmond, and Wake, it shows we can overcome adversity and the craziness that can happen when you’re not at home,” Johnston said. “We’ve obviously shown that we have what it takes to win and to stay disciplined.”
Anderson credits the team’s five fall tournaments for preparing her team for the beginning of the season.
“They help us a lot,” Anderson said. “I think it just gave us a lot of match experience, because our players play better the more they play and the more they compete. I think that just by getting that match experience, that made a big difference. Just to kind of get going.”
The Phoenix will be back at on the court at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in Wilmington when they take on the University of North Carolina at Wilmington Seahawks.