Lauren Hewett Provides Leadership For Surging Spartans

After a spectacular fall season, the Spartan tennis team is ranked No. 26 in the nation and has enjoyed an excellent start ot the 2013 campiagn. A great deal of this success can be attributed to the leadership of captain Lauren Hewett.

The junior from Hertfordshire, England, which is just north of London, is in her third season at UT and is serving in her first season as captain. Her and doubles partner Meg Wladimirski have a No. 10 overall preseason regional ranking.

Hewett says they hope to improve on the ranking and be in the top five regionally as well as being nationally ranked by the end of the season. She also has high expectations for singles season. "I want to win all of my matches," said an enthusiastic Hewett when asked about her expectations for the season.

That's the mindset she takes on to the court every day and it seems to have rubbed off on the entire team. Hewett describes the squad as a "young team". Her veteran leadership has helped to push the tempo and showed the underclassmen the level of play necessary to be successful in the ever challenging Sunshine State Conference.

Hewett, who started playing tennis at the age of 6 while living in Hong Kong, developed her skills and had a lot of success coming up through the British junior tennis ranks.

She has worked very hard to get to the point where she is today. Hewett explained that she struggled to win matches early on in her career but once she hit her stride began to have a lot of success. She received her first national ranking at 13 years old and began to start winning numerous tournaments on the national junior circuit.

This kind of competitiveness is not surprising, seeing as how she has shown her athleticism in a number of sports including lacrosse, netball, track and swimming. She was also involved in sailing, following in the footsteps of her father. He sailed competitively, winning races in Hong Kong and competing in the British National Championships.

After seeing friends travel to America to play tennis for numerous collegiate teams across the country, Hewett decided to make the move to attend UT and play tennis.

Her move to come to the USA hasn't always been easy. She has had to make a number of adjustments while going to UT. Hewett admits that while the warm weather was a significant factor in choosing to come to Tampa, it has been difficult to deal with at points.

"The conditions make it harder to train," explained Hewett speaking about the Florida heat. She also stated that there is an added difficulty shifting back and forth between Florida and England seeing as how English winters make it harder to perform the same activities she accustomed to in Tampa.

The weather is not the biggest speed bump that Hewett has encountered on her journey at UT. A sprained ankle forced her to miss her freshman campaign. She was slated as a high singles player for the team and had gotten off to a great start with her doubles partner. She said, "I was pretty upset. Meg and I were playing very well."

Hewett has come a long way since missing that first season and so has the team she explains. She says, "The team is excited (about this season)… We have all the talent to win." She is speaking about a team that is from the top down a much stronger team than the Spartans have had in recent years.

"This year we have strong players one through six," as she described the ranked singles members. This depth is going to be necessary to compete in SSC conference play this year. A national ranking of 26th overall only puts the Spartans at eighth in the preseason conference poll.

"We're 26th. That means all the teams above us in the conference are in the top 25," stated an eager Hewett. She added, "I think we have the talent this year to beat quite a few of them."

Not only do they have the talent, but also the chemistry and coaching. "Coach (DuFaux) has really stepped his game up this year… I think he recognizes the talent we have and knows it's something special," she mentioned speaking about the Spartans head coach Al DuFaux.

Hewett also attributes a lot of her personal success this year to the addition of assistant coach Heath Pritchard and fitness coach Jefferson Pinheiro. She explained that she feels faster and is in much better condition thanks to Pinheiro.

Hewett described Pritchard as a very technically strong coach. "His drills are great and he hits the ball hard at us. That's good because we play some girls that hit it very hard as well," expresses Hewett, "The three coaches work very well together."

Coach DuFaux has also done a great job of bringing in talent. Hewett depicted the team as having a lot of depth. She says that the opportunity to play against talented players on a daily basis has been important in the development of the team.

Hewett has adjusted well to her role of leading this great group of players. She confesses that it was a little nerve wracking at first knowing that she had to know what to say before practices and games.

Hewett believes that she is responsible for putting the team in the right frame of mind to be successful. She seems to have found the right words up to this point in her captaincy.

The Spartans had a great fall and continue to make strides coming into the spring season under her leadership. The younger girls have also shown their respect for her by having her on the sidelines for matches, which Hewett finds very flattering.

With the mix of youth, energy and talent, the sky is the limit for the Spartan tennis program in 2013. Hewett's leadership will be the solidifying characteristic that will bring that winning formula together.

Written by Mike Tyrrell