CALABASAS STAR HEADS FOR YALE\Tennis player scores in classroom, on court.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Special to the Daily News Things certainly have changed for Calabasas tennis player Kirsten Gross. When she started playing tennis at the age of 11, Gross had no idea what a tournament was, let alone the fact that the sport was something she could use to ultimately help pay for a college education. Soon now, she'll be hitting ground strokes at prestigious Ivy League Ivy League Group of eight universities in the northeastern U.S., high in academic and social prestige, that are members of an athletic conference for intercollegiate gridiron football dating to the 1870s. schools like Princeton, Harvard and Dartmouth universities
Dartmouth University is a defunct institution in New Hampshire, the result of a thwarted attempt by the state legislature to make Dartmouth College, a private college, into a public university. . Gross, a senior at Calabasas, will attend Yale University Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1702, moved (1707) to Saybrook (now Old Saybrook), and in 1716 was next fall and is expected to make an immediate contribution on the Bulldogs women's tennis team. Known for her doubles play while at Calabasas, Gross will most likely try singles as well when she gets to Yale. "When I first started playing tennis, I never really thought I could take it as far as I have," Gross said. "I just wanted to play." But as the years and mention Gross' ability progressed, she began to realize what was available. "When I got to high school, I thought, wow, you can go to college and play tennis. Great. And then I thought, if I study hard and do well in school I can do it at an Ivy League school. That's pretty good, too." Gross, an outstanding student who carries a 3.9 GPA GPA abbr. grade point average Noun 1. GPA - a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted , chose Yale over the University of Pennsylvania (body, education) University of Pennsylvania - The home of ENIAC and Machiavelli. http://upenn.edu/. Address: Philadelphia, PA, USA. , Princeton University Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. Schools and Research Facilities , Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. and the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at Berkley. "When I visited there, I really liked everything about the school," Gross said. "The facilities were great, and I really enjoyed the coaching staff and players." Gross, who admits she never dared dream of actually attending an Ivy League school when she first got to Calabasas, plans to major in business economics. Calabasas tennis coach Bob Hollycross, who took over the Coyotes program last year, was immediately impressed with Gross' ability. "I really didn't know much about her, but a number of people told me that she was a fine player," Hollycross said. "But when I finally saw her play, I knew she had a lot of ability." Hollycross also feels Gross helps a team even when she's not playing. "She's real good working with the other players and in helping out the other girls," Hollycross said. "She's a great teammate." Hollycross considers Gross' best attribute her intelligence, which often emerges during big matches. "She's pretty steady, and mentally she's extremely tough," he said. "It's hard sometimes to keep focus out there when you're playing a big match, but Kirsten does an outstanding job in that regard." Gross' biggest accomplishment this school year came when she and doubles teammate Shera Wiegler won the Southern Section Doubles Championship. The duo defeated defending champions Pilar Pilar strong-minded female leader of a group of guerrillas in the Spanish Civil War. [Am. Lit.: Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls] See : Female Power Pilar Montgomery and Sarita Yardi of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6) to win the title. Wiegler and Gross were down 5-3 in both tie breakers but still managed to win the championship. Hollycross sees no reason why that type of success can't continue for Gross on the college level. "I think she'll be a fine college player," he said. "She has all the potential in the world, and I'm sure she'll continue to improve. She's quite capable." CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo Coyotes tennis player Kirsten Gross has excelled in doubles play with her partner Shera Wiegler and in academics with a 3.9 GPA. Evan Yee/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion