49ers insider: Charlotte tennis players making the grade

Lisa Grosselius hates to procrastinate.

Keeping ahead of her studies is one of the things the Charlotte 49ers women’s tennis player credits for maintaining her exceptional GPA.

Grosselius also is thinking ahead in terms of what she’ll do after she graduates in May with a degree in finance.

“Academics have always been important to me,” said the senior from Mölndal, Sweden. “College tennis doesn’t last forever. You have to have a Plan B.

“I think your grades and your hard schoolwork translates into the tennis court. If you work hard in one area, I think it translates into other areas.”

Grosselius was one of five 49ers women’s tennis players who finished the 2014 spring semester with a 4.0 GPA. The team’s overall GPA of 3.68 set a school record for any team in any sport during a single semester.

This year, the team is setting its sights even higher.

“We’re always trying to be at the top,” said Michaela Gorman, the team’s 12th-year head coach. “They are performing well in the classroom and striving to beat our last year’s GPA. The girls do a great job. They are tired at the end of the day. It’s a full day, but they know their day can’t end when they leave practice.”

Gorman says she spends a lot of time talking with her team about the responsibilities of being a student-athlete. She says she tries to recruit tennis players who are well-rounded athletically, academically and socially.

Grosselius, who carried a 3.9 overall GPA into her final semester, says the tennis team’s high academic standards were in place when she and teammate Natsuko Takayanagi arrived as freshmen four years ago. Neither had a difficult time adjusting to those expectations, since both had those values instilled in them when they were growing up.

The similarities between Grosselius and Takayanagi don’t end with academics. Both are natives of foreign countries (Takayanagi was born in Japan), and both became finance majors.

“I think we’re smart as a team,” said Takayanagi. “Everyone is so smart. Four of us are (from) out of country. (The others) always get 4.0s.

Not speaking “English is not an excuse to us. I think we study more because of it.”

Grosselius has been recognized as a Perfect Niner – a 49ers athlete with a 4.0 GPA – five times in her four years. In the fall semester, she earned a B- – in Financial Practice and Theory – for only the third time as a Charlotte student.

Takayanagi was excited to earn her first Perfect Niner award last spring, when she and Grosselius and three teammates – Briana Bodner (from Hough High), Victoria Pahlett and Macy Vonderschmidt – also achieved that status.

Grosselius is a two-time academic all-conference selection. She and her studious teammates have received an array of academic awards, including being named to the university’s Chancellor’s and Dean’s lists, and as a Scholar Athletes by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Grosselius says that sometimes fellow students think athletes have an easier campus life, but she contends student-athletes have a tougher go of it because of their rigorous schedules, which include daily practices and travel to contests.

Charlotte 49ers freshmen are required to attend study hall for six hours a week and have to meet with an academic adviser. After their first academic year, athletes study more independently.

Being finance majors in the same graduating class, Grosselius and Takayanagi often have studied together for the same classes.

Softball led by homers

Infielder Haley Pace hit her first two career home runs, including a grand slam, as the 49ers softball team split four games at the Carolina Classic on March 6-8 at UNC Chapel-Hill.

Through 18 games, the freshman was leading Charlotte with a .321 batting average.

Jumper headed to NCAAs

Senior Trey McRae, named the Conference USA Co-Male Performer of the Meet at the indoor championships in February, qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the high jump and long jump.

The meet was scheduled for March 13-14 at the University of Arkansas.

Men’s tennis grabs win

The men’s tennis team moved to 5-2 overall after a 4-2 victory against Conference USA rival Alabama-Birmingham on March 8.

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 8:00 PM with the headline "49ers insider: Charlotte tennis players making the grade."