COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Fall 2014 season came to a close in early November for Mizzou tennis, as the team racked up 10 event championships and over 50 wins overall. The Tigers kick off Spring 2015 action on Jan. 17 with a road trip to UT-Arlington.
Leading up to the team's spring opener, MUTigers.com will sit down with each of the seven Tiger players and review their performance from this past fall. This go-around, we sit down with New Braunfels, Texas native and Tiger junior, Kelli Hine.
Hine is one-of-three upperclassmen this 2014-15 season for head coach Sasha Schmid. The junior completed her first season in Columbia, Mo. last year after transferring from Texas Tech University. In her first two seasons of collegiate tennis action, Hine has seen her win totals improve from 13 her freshman year to 19 her sophomore campaign.
During the Fall 2014 season, Hine regularly served as the team's No. 1 singles player while also competing as one of the top doubles players. Overall, the talented Tiger earned five singles wins and seven doubles wins during the fall season. Among her doubles competition, Hine picked up two event championships, including titles with teammates Brittany Lashway and Beatriz Machado Santos.
With a successful Fall 2014 season behind her, Hine reflected on not only her individual success, but also the improvements she saw from her teammates.
"As a team, I saw a lot of growth throughout the fall season," Hine said. "We wanted to see how we all fit in together and how we meshed as a team. We really built a lot of team chemistry throughout the fall. It's cool to see so many people shine on the court and see their strengths as a player. Also, our sports psychology meetings with Katie McLean really allowed us to show our strengths as a person and how we can help each other out every day."
"Personally, I felt that I grew a lot this fall with my confidence and positive self-talk," Hine said. "The fall season is really about getting out there and preparing for the future spring season. We all wanted to take our `BOLD' team motto to the next level."
Over the course of the three fall months, Hine competed in three tournaments for the Tigers. They included the Mizzou Invite in Kansas City, Mo., the ITA Regionals in Stillwater, Okla. and the San Diego State Fall Classic in San Diego, Calif.
Out of the three venues she visited, the sensational weather at one spot ultimately made it her favorite stop of the Fall 2014 season.
"I'd say the San Diego tournament was my favorite," Hine exclaimed. "Oklahoma State had an awesome facility, but San Diego stood out since our whole team was there and the weather was beautiful. It was great weather to compete in and everyone shined throughout the tournament."
The Spring 2015 opener is only 15 days away for Hine and her Tiger teammates. With play set to kick into full gear in a matter of weeks, Hine can't wait for the journey that lies ahead.
"I'm looking forward to having so much fun," Hine said. "The memories that we're going to have and going out there and kicking butt is going to be great. We really need to enjoy every minute of it, both on-and-off the court. I can't wait to play side-by-side with my teammates and work hard for my coaches!"
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