Weber enjoying solid freshman year at Mizzou
Belleville West grad is ranked in doubles
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| University of Missouri photo University of Missouri freshman Mallory Weber (Belleville West) and doubles partner Chrissy Svetlic are ranked No. 43 in the nation. |
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Coming off a successful fall season, Weber and doubles teammate Chrissy Svetlic are ranked No. 43 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings. The duo has combined for three tournament titles.
"Coming into the fall, I didn't know what to expect, but I ended up having a great fall season," said Weber, a freshman at Mizzou. "I really like school and I really like tennis."The rankings just came and Coach (Blake Starkey) called and told us and we were really excited. I didn't expect that coming in as a freshman."
Svetlic, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., has played a key role in helping Weber adjust to collegiate tennis.
"Chrissy has been through this for four years and she knows the girls and knows the other schools." Weber said. "That's helped me a lot and made things easier.
"Our games are similar. She has really solid groundstrokes but really loves to volley. I guess it helps us having similar games.
"Our biggest tournament was in Maryland (the Maryland Invitational) when we won out there. We had a lot of good tournaments this fall and they were really fun to go to."
Weber has also played well in singles.
"My record is 8-4, but it was fun to play against a really good person all the time and compete with them," Weber said. "The biggest adjustment to college tennis is having to go out there every match and know this person is just as good or better than you. There are no easy matches - you have to focus and work hard all the time."
Weber's preparation for college tennis included an outstanding summer season on the Missouri Valley junior circuit in 2007.
"I went out to a national clay court tournament in Memphis and won a few rounds there," Weber said. "I played in an ITA college tournament in Kansas and won that. I had a few other ITA tournaments with some wins. It was good competition for the summer.
"Those ITA tournaments are against college girls and being able to compete against them even if I didn't beat them gave me confidence going into the season."
After being the No. 1 player and a four-year starter on the 2006 Belleville West squad, Weber has had to adjust to being a freshman at a Division I school.
"It hasn't been bad because the upperclassmen are really open with us," Weber said. "They include us in everything that they do, so it's been a pretty smooth transition.
"With only eight of us, it's made the team a lot closer. We do a lot of stuff together. It helps that I'm one of the three freshmen and I'm with them almost all the time."
Weber returned to school on Wednesday to prepare for the second half of the season.
"We start again on Jan. 26 when we go down to Arkansas to play," Weber said. "In the fall we played four tournaments, but in the spring we have dual matches every weekend. I'm looking forward to our Big 12 schedule because we play a lot of really good teams.
"We have practice every day at 2:30 and we usually practice for about three hours. We either lift weights or have running and conditioning after that, so we're usually there for four hours.
"It's a little more demanding than high school tennis. You're there for a longer period of time and you're constantly doing drills and stuff. It was a little different at first, but once I got used to it, I really like it."
Playing for longtime coach Bob Keefe at Belleville West aided Weber in her transition to playing at Mizzou.
"Having teammates like Abby (Allgire) and Carli (Connors) and having great teams all four years I was here really helped," Weber said. "Coach Keefe is as good a coach as you can possibly have and that really prepared me for college.
"Coach Starkey has been great. He's really active with our practices and he's just a fun guy. He was a great transition from Coach Keefe because he's really interested in what we're doing outside of tennis, just like Coach Keefe was."
Off the tennis court, Weber is getting accustomed to the academic and social aspects of college life.
"Belleville West has strong academics, so I was really prepared for school and for my college courses," Weber said. "It was a big switch not having a solid seven hours a day of school, but I've adjusted and I really like it.
"They just built new dorms about two years ago and I live in one of them. It's definitely different being on my own and doing stuff, but I like it.
"I want to get my bachelor's (degree) in secondary education and I want to go on to be a teacher. As far as tennis, I want to be able to compete with these girls and maybe eventually get ranked in singles or upset a few people. If I become a high school teacher, I think it would be fun to come back and coach tennis."
Weber is one of five players from the 2005 Belleville West team now playing college tennis. That group placed fourth in the state tournament.
"Carli Connors, Sarah Rhein and Stephanie Clark are all at SIU-Edwardsville," said Keefe, who retired after the 2006 season. "Stephanie and Sarah are both sophomores and Carli is a freshman.
"Abby Allgire is a freshman at Eastern Illinois. Emily Littlefield, who was the other singles player on that team, is at the University of Kentucky, but she's not playing tennis.
"When she was at West, Mallory played basketball for three years and played softball as a senior. This is the first year where she's focusing all of her attention on one sport. Playing at the level of tennis that they play at, her game will continue to excel."
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