Cavalier Corner

Emily Fraser Saved Her Best For Last BY SHANE METTLEN W HETHER PLAYING as Vir- ginia's No. 1 singles star or teaming up with fellow fourth-year Lindsey Harden- bergh as one of the nation's top doubles pairs, there's no denying Emily Fraser had a monster year on the tennis court. FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Cavalier Corner's 2012 Female Athlete of the Year finished her Virginia career second on the school's all-time doubles wins list with 119. She also finished third in singles wins with 102 and was second in total victories (221). With Harden- bergh spending most of the past four years playing next to her, the two became Vir- ginia's two winningest players ever (Hardenbergh finished with 253 career victories). Fraser entered the season de- termined to make her fourth year at UVa her best. "It seems like it is kind of the with the strongest results I'd had." Fraser concluded the season 27-15 in singles play and was No. 24 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. In doubles, she was 28-12 and teamed with Hardenbergh to form the nation's No. 26 tandem. An All-ACC performer this spring, Fraser led the Cavaliers to a 20-8 record and the NCAA round of 16 in Athens, Ga. She also competed in the NCAA Singles Championships and teamed with Hardenbergh in the NCAA Doubles Cham- pionships. It was there that the remarkable ride finally came to an end. In a back-and-forth match with Tennessee's Natalie Pluskota and Kata Szekely, the No. 10 team in the country, the UVa duo fi- nally fell, closing a successful chapter of Virginia women's tennis. "[They] have been incredible student-athletes at trend among players in their fourth year here to either have the best year they've had or fall off the map," she said. "For me, last summer I really took it seriously to get very fit and be in the best shape I could and give myself the best chance I could to have a good year. I feel like I put in the work last summer and it really paid off throughout the year. I got ACC Player of the Week a few times and made All-ACC at the end of the year, which was really nice. I feel like that work helped carry me through the year and finish "I can honestly say it's been the greatest four years of my life. The amount of growth I've experienced from coming here from my first year to my fourth year was incredible, not just on the tennis court. I've made so many relationships with people." EMILY FRASER the University of Virginia and are responsible more than any others for the improved competitiveness and success of the women's tennis program," UVa head coach Mark Guilbeau said of Fraser and Hardenbergh. Now graduated, Fraser is spending the summer in Charlottesville working at tennis camps before moving to Cincinnati to begin work at a startup CAVALIER CORNER ◆ AUGUST 2012 ◆ 39

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