Miller reflects on past, sets lofty season goals

Sophomore Kristi Miller has already made quite a name for herself on campus and is now gaining recognition on the national level. The All-American has accomplished more in just over a year than most players do in four years of college. As a key member of last year’s team that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, Miller helped lead the Jackets to the highest level in team history.

Among Miller’s many other accomplishments, she was invited as a wild card player to the 2005 U.S. Open. The journey to the U.S. Open was an interesting one for Miller.

“You can apply for a wild card through the USTA. I [became] good friends with Megan Bradley who was the number one player in college tennis last year [playing] at the University of Miami. We didn’t really know each other on a personal level until this summer. They put us together as a doubles pair at the tournament in the Bronx. We won our first round, and then lost to a seeded team in the next round. A couple of weeks later, Megan was playing in the singles tournament at the U.S. Open as well. She was already there, and called me to come up and play in the U.S. Open because there was a chance that they could get a wild card to play in the doubles tournament,” Miller said.

When she arrived in Flushing, N.Y. for the tournament, the crowds were funneling into New York in anticipation of exciting championship matches. While bigger crowds came to see the matches that would lead up to the finals on Sunday, Miller and Bradley still played in front of an impressive venue.

“We had a lot of support. There were no real traditional college teams in the tournament. We won our first round, which was amazing. It was exciting to warm up on those courts and have people watching you warm up and ask for autographs.”

In the first round, Miller and Bradley went up against the doubles pair of Catalina Castano of Columbia and Laura Pous Tio of Spain. Miller and Bradley won the first round match 6-4, 6-2. In the second round, things became far more difficult. They were defeated in straight sets 2-6, 3-6 by the No. 8 pair of Corina Morariu from the U.S. and Patty Schneider from Switzerland.

For the tournament Miller obtained a guest pass, which allowed her to watch the remaining matches including the epic match between James Blake and Rafael Nadal that occurred at last year’s Open. She was also able to meet many professionals like Todd Martin (a former pro) and Anastasia Myskina (currently ranked No. 11 in the world by the WTA) among others.

Miller, a native of Marysville, Mich., started playing tennis when she was four years old. Her mother, a former college tennis player, taught her the game at an early age. By the time she was eight years old, she had started playing tennis competitively. Soon tennis took her beyond the Wolverine state.

“I played some local tournaments when I was seven and eight years old. As early as nine I was playing regional tournaments in southern Michigan. We had tournaments all over the Detroit area. Most of the club tournaments were in areas surrounding Detroit. I started playing Midwest tournaments when I was nine and ten years old. By the time I was twelve, I was in national tournaments.”

During her freshman year, her father encouraged to start looking at colleges to attend. While traveling around playing tennis, she fell in love with colleges in the south, where it was warmer, which allows for more outdoor games, and also had well-established collegiate tennis programs. Among the schools she considered were Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Tech.

“I just knew that I wanted to play outdoors a lot more and enjoy the weather. I got sick of the weather in Michigan. A lot of the good tennis schools are in the south as well, which made the decision easier. From looking at colleges, I wanted to go to a school that was great in academics and would allow me to be the best I could be in tennis.”

As valedictorian at Marysville High School in 2004, Miller is majoring in International Affairs. Miller holds the school record for the most singles and doubles wins in a single season, and she was named last year’s ACC Rookie of the Year.

Last season the team played many close matches and often had to battle from behind against highly ranked opponents like Georgia and Miami. The team was also able to win the ACC tournament, but the biggest moment for Miller came against Texas in the Sweet 16.

“The high point and low point of last year was losing to Texas in the Sweet 16 at Athens. We had more fans there than even UGA did. I lost the deciding match 6-4 in the third set. I will never forget the crowd chanting “Yellow!...Jackets!” It was my first chance to clinch a match for the team. I had gotten down in the first set, and came back which made it feel like I was going to win. I was able to put it all on the line, and have everyone out there watching me.”

While disappointed with the way that match turned out, Miller has a chance to improve on her performance this season to reach her goals of becoming an All-American in both singles and doubles, as well as winning nationals in singles to get an automatic bid into the U.S. Open.