Dear Wonderful Fans,
As promised I’d like to start introducing our Duke Women’s Tennis stars to you so that you can get to know them a little better. This week, I’d like to introduce to you a girl that has not only brought with her a beastly game to our program, but a girl who holds a very special place in all our hearts. To you all she is known as the star freshman, Rachel Kahan. But to us she is known as BIG RAY!
Yes, I could probably spend hours talking about Rachel’s absolutely amazing tennis—one that all of us marvel at— but that is not what this blog is about. So from now on, I am going to refer to her as Big Ray because that’s exactly what she is to us!
As soon as Ray made her first appearance at Duke, we all knew that she was going to be an absolute sweetheart. Initially, she was a meek girl who brightened our days with her delightful smile. However, very soon we learnt that Ray not only had a beautiful smile, but she also had a beautiful heart. Hampered by an ankle injury last semester, Ray wasn’t able to showcase her outstanding tennis abilities. While others would dwell in their sorrow and be completely disheartened, Ray took to impacting the team in the only way that she could- huge amounts of support. Ask any of the girls and they will tell you that Ray is the epitome of a team player.
I remember one practice where Ray came up with the idea of filling up all our water bottles, even if they were not yet empty. Soon she was hobbling back and forth filling our water bottles AND adding ice to them (Something that no one else would think of doing) for the whole 2 hours. No one had caught on to what Ray was up to for the first hour, but after a while we all realized that instead of emptying, our water bottles were filling. When confronted, Ray answered, “do you need more water? Anybody? I’m going there anyway.” This was so out of the ordinary that we were all completely gob smacked. Who would ever volunteer to fill our water bottles, especially when they were still recovering from an injury? Only Big Ray.
This is only an example of many other instances where Ray has gone out of her way to help us. She not only helps in her actions, but in her words. When Ray cheers for us, our spirits are lifted. When you need to be comforted, Ray offers such kind words that you immediately feel better. And what does she do this for? For absolutely nothing. In fact Ray completely shies away from praise even though she well deserves it. She’s barely been here a semester and a half and already she has impacted our team in ways that we, ourselves don’t even realize.
So, when you see Big Ray around remember that she not only has a Big Game, But a Massive heart and that’s what we all should cheer for! GO BIG RAAAAY!
On a separate note, we are off to the National Team Indoors for this weekend where we will face some of the top teams in the nation. We have been training really hard since our close fought battle with Florida on Sunday and we’re ready to take it to them and bring home the tournament title. Our first match is at 12:30 PM on Friday against Tennessee.
Here is a link to the draw:
GO DUKE!
Yours in tennis,
Monica Gorny and the rest of Duke Women’s Tennis
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