Junior Ethan Bryant prepares to serve against LeMoyne~Owen's No. 3 player April 4. The Bisons had a 9~O shutout against LeMoyne-Owens and Christian Brothers. -Chelsea Roberson Row 1: R. Carter, P. Owens, E. Mendoza, R. Rios. Row 2: B. Hoch, I. Rodriguez, A. Giron, E. Bryant, R. Roberts. Senior's confidence, love for game help him thrive Ryan Roberts was first imroduced into the world of tennis at the young age of7, when he began to play alongside his father and his younger brother. Roberts, a senior kinesiology major with a coaching emphasis, continued ro play and mature in the sport despite some setbacks and began his fourth year as a member of the Bisons tennis team in 2006. Born in Wickes, Ark., a small town of fewer than 700 people in the southwest part of the s(ate, Roberts grew up in a place without recre– ational tennis courts. "Tennis was definitely not popular in that town," Roberts said. "[My brother and I] had to drive to DeQueen, which was about 20 minutes away just to play." However, Roberts continued to compete and excel in tennis through– out high school. While also playing basketball in high school, Roberts demonstrated a great imerest in continuing to play tennis and his bas– ketball coach became his tennis coach. Roberrs said while his first two years of high school competition were a little slow, he found his niche his junior year. "I made it to state and won my junior year, which was really awesome," Roberts said. ''And I made it to the semifinals my senior year." Roberts used this momentum to project him into playing tennis in college. After being recruited by Harding's tennis team, Roberts came to Searcy and began training to compete on the collegiate level. Soon Roberts began to thrive and be competitive, like he had been in high school. Roberts said a capstone was achieved during the 20052006 season when he earned his second straight 1st Team All-GulfSouth Conference honor in addition to several other awards. These honors gave Roberts more of the confidence he needed to continue thriving as an athlete. In fact, Roberts said that his entire game, desire to get betrer and ability to succeed in tennis directly correlated to his level of confidence. "When I build up my confidence, I play mllch better," Roberts said. "If I'm not nervous, I won't choke." Similarly, Roberts said when one person excelled on the team, it helped build up the confidence ofall the other players. Coach Gary Elliot, head coach of the tennis team, also recognized the importance of confidence and how it affected the entire team. "Righr from the start, I noticed that Ryan had a strong intuition," Elliott said. "He had certain qualities that his teammates saw and worked hard to possess. He is a hard worker, and that is contagious." In addition {Q the highlights that Roberts created while playing on the court, he said he also experienced some tennis highlights away from the court like watching sports icons Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi play. Taking what he learned from several years of training, playing and competing, Roberts said he planned to coach after his graduation. "I am just bless,~d to be able to play," Roberts said. ''And right now, I am very content. The Bisons finished their season with a 15-9 overall record and were ranked in the NCAA II South Region poll at No.7. They made an apperance at the NCAA National Tournament, their fifth in the past six years, where they fell to West Florida in the first round. -Jordan Dyniewski men's tennis
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