As a high schooler, Colleen Cheng had her sights set on one school: California. She wanted to stay in-state and the Golden Bears obliged in offering her a tennis scholarship.
Except things didn’t work out the way she had planned.
Cheng’s scholarship was later given away to another player, forcing her to leave behind a top-notch program and tennis hotbed to travel to the cold Midwest and join the Northwestern women’s tennis team.
“I know it is bad, but I hold grudges,” said Cheng, a junior. “I want to let my racket do the talking.”
As an integral part of NU’s recent back-to-back Big Ten titles, Cheng and her racket have come across loud and clear. And looking back, Cheng said she has no regrets about coming to Evanston.
“I tell Colleen all the time that I’m glad she didn’t go to Cal,” coach Claire Pollard said.
So is teammate Shannon Duffy, who crossed paths with Cheng on the junior circuit and established a friendship via e-mail before enrolling at NU. Although the precocious freshmen bonded under the “good care” of the upperclassmen, they underwent a season that they would not wish to repeat.
The Wildcats lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in 1998, and then lost coach Lisa Fortman when she decided to resign at season’s end. Cheng’s disappointment was magnified when the team lost in the opening round of the NCAAs.
“I was in shock. I expected the coach to be there for four years,” Cheng said. “We were all surprised.”
Fortman had recruited and developed a bond with Cheng and Duffy, and when Pollard entered, her blunt manner and “British sarcasm” intimidated her players.
But Cheng was won over by Pollard’s creative drills, soccer games, team concept and winning. Cheng called herself a mute on the court but under Pollard, she screams, yells and does a lot of fist-pumping.
“She gets loud on the court,” Duffy said. “Everyone stops what they’re doing and looks at her. It is one of the funniest things because she normally keeps things bottled up.”
Cheng’s interests aren’t limited to tennis. A computer science major who spent last summer working at Hewlett-Packard, she receives plenty of good-natured abuse from her teammates for her Tech ties.
But that doesn’t stop them from placing late-night phone calls for help troubleshooting computer problems.
“She’s definitely out of our intelligence level. She is a little above us,” Duffy said.
Cheng also makes team CDs, composes songs and once wrote an inspirational poem, all in the efforts to liven up her teammates.
“You name it, she can do it. A talented individual in many respects and very modest about it,” Pollard said.
On the court, Cheng is a dangerous player who can hit lobs, volleys and powerful forehands. But she is in love with her dropshot because it “makes other people feel slow and bad.”
Cheng also tries to perfect between-the-legs circus shots, which Pollard does not permit in matches.
Pollard has also worked on improving Cheng’s shot selection, which has included attempting winners from more than 10 feet behind the baseline.
Cheng’s aggressive style shortens the time of her matches, but she takes pride in winning fast and cheering on her teammates afterwards.
“If you have too many clinchers, then you never get ahead,” Pollard said. “Jen (Lutgert) and Shannon (Duffy) don’t get the opportunity (to clinch) if no one wins first.”
Case in point was the Big Ten finals against Minnesota in which Lutgert received the headlines for clinching the match, but an injured Cheng gave the Cats a quick point — handing Kim Simonsen her first Big Ten loss of the season.
In each of her first two seasons, Cheng posted 24 victories. This year at No. 3 singles, she has 30 victories but did not win All-Big Ten honors despite her 10-3 conference record. Only Nos. 1 and 2 singles players were honored.
“You shouldn’t be penalized for playing on a great team, and in my mind she is one of the best 12 players in the conference,” Pollard said.
In addition, Cheng and Katherine Nasser, who play No. 1 doubles for the Cats, were selected to compete in the NCAA doubles tournament.
But for now, Cheng is focused on the team tournament, which begins Saturday against Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla. A win over the Golden Eagles would mean a second-round match Sunday against either Tulsa or Minnesota.
And if NU is to advance, then Cheng’s racket will have to do a lot of talking.
