Colorado State University Athletics
Getting to know CSU's Laura Neal
11/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Nov. 14, 2008
By Mackenzie Altman
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - - The CSU women's tennis team is deep into its preparation for the upcoming spring season which begins Feb. 6 at Boise, Idaho. CSURams.com took the opportunity to sit down with one of the team leaders, Laura Neal, to discuss her personal goals for the upcoming season as well as some other topics.
Neal, a junior health and exercise science major, ended the fall season with an overall 5-3 singles record and 5-1 doubles record with partner Anette Pohjalainen. In the finals of the gold doubles flight at the Wyoming Invitational, Neal and Pohjalainen earned a victory against McKenzie Hilmer and Ali Griffin of Montana State, 8-6, to take first place in the flight.
In addition, Neal qualified for and competed in the ITA Regional Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah. After the first day of competition, Neal and freshman Tori Arneson finished with a combined 4-0 record in both singles and doubles competition. Head Coach Jon Messick commented on the results stating that he could not remember the last time that his team won all its matches on the first day of competition.
Laura Neal
Neal, 21, is from Portland, Ore. At Sunset High School, Neal was a three-time Metro League champion, and state champion in both her junior and senior seasons. She also earned four varsity letters in tennis, was a four-time MVP, a member of the National Honor Society and was valedictorian of her class. Throughout her collegiate career, Neal has continued to be an integral part of the program.
On some of her personal goals for the upcoming spring season
"To get ranked would be a big one. Then I would say just to have a more aggressive game and to play against the top girls in the conference."
On her thoughts about the team's preseason play, both individually and as a team
"I thought we did really well. Our Wyoming results were pretty impressive taking however many flights we did. I think it was like seven out of 10 flights, something ridiculous like that. So I thought we did really well. Tori and I went to regionals and we actually played really well together. Tori had some good results as a freshman at regionals, which is pretty impressive."
On being a team leader as a junior
"It's fun. We have a fun team and a lot of potential and hopefully that potential will show spring season."
On facing teammate Lauren Strasburger in the Wyoming Invitational in the finals of the gold singles flight
"Well it's always weird to face a teammate. It's not exactly what we wanted but it's pretty great that we both got there."
On playing with doubles partner Anette Pohjalainen in the preseason
"Yea, I love playing with Anette. I played with her a lot last year on and off. We just have really good chemistry. She is just one of those players that when she gets going there is nothing that can stop her pretty much. My job is just to pump her up."
On her favorite tennis player who is her role model
"That's a hard one. I don't keep up as much on tennis anymore. I loved Justine Henin because she had an all-around game versus everyone else on the tour who were primarily big hitters and that's not my game. I was never going to be a Henin or a Venus or Serena (Williams)."
On a quirky fact that people might not know about her
"I learned to played tennis in Puerto Rico. I lived there for two years because of my dad's job. I can kind of speak Spanish."