Even before she smacked her first college tennis ball, Ariel Ohno had to deal with a curveball.<\/p>\n
But this one had nothing to do with settling into another sport.<\/p>\n
It was about settling into another school.<\/p>\n
Ohno, a 2007 Kentridge High graduate who went to the Class 4A singles semifinals as a sophomore in her only year of high school tennis, had planned to attend the University of Portland. But when that didn\u2019t work out, she walked onto a talent-laden team at the University of Washington. And while a nagging back injury has kept her out of action this spring, Ohno did get some court time last fall, picking up her first career singles victory in the ITA regionals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough team, but at the same time, it\u2019s real good competition,\u201d the 18-year-old Ohno said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a real good chance to improve and play a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chance is all Ohno was looking for when she approached head coach Julie Hultquist last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she called me and told me she was interested, I went to watch her at the Washington State Open,\u201d Hultquist said. \u201cI liked her hands and her athletic ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing I always talk to her about is the mental aspect of the game,\u201d Hultquist added. \u201cThe mental aspect is pretty tough. We have a lot of great players out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lack of match play notwithstanding, Ohno, who, according to Hultquist, might have her best shot at eventually breaking into the doubles lineup, indicated she already is seeing a better game for herself on the Husky courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that I\u2019m a lot stronger mentally, and a little bit more focused,\u201d Ohno said. \u201cI\u2019m able to construct points more than when I was in high school. And I\u2019m a lot more consistent. Consistency is one of my bigger (improvements).\u201d<\/p>\n
From the get-go, she knew that had to be the case in order to make it at this level.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of players can hit just as yard and play just as well as you can,\u201d Ohno said. \u201cBut they can get a few more balls in.\u201d<\/p>\n
As expected, Ohno made an impact during her sole season as a Charger. She won the South Puget Sound League North Division title, then advanced to state, where two victories on the first day put her into the semifinals, where she fell to Stephanie Davison of South Kitsap, 6-0, 6-0.<\/p>\n
But that was it. After that, Ohno decided it was better for her to focus her game outside the high school scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t miss it at all,\u201d she said. \u201cI experienced it one year, went to the semifinals, but felt like it didn\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
After doing what she considered to be \u201cpretty well\u201d last fall, Ohno was hoping for at least some occasional action this spring.<\/p>\n
Her back had other ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just kind of a day-in, day-out grind,\u201d Ohno said. \u201cI took a little bit of rest and did a lot of exercising. For me, it was difficult to run. So I had to sit out a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohno is considering just making this a redshirt year, since she hasn\u2019t played this spring. But whenever she does get back into action, she\u2019ll definitely know what to expect, whether from her teammates during practice, or from an opponent on the other side of the net.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomethings you can get away with in high school, you can\u2019t here. Intensity is a lot higher,\u201d Ohno said. \u201cSometimes, you think you can put away a shot (and it comes back).<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers are a lot smarter,\u201d she added. \u201cThey won\u2019t break down as easily. They have an \u2018A\u2019 game, and if that doesn\u2019t work, they can always rely on a \u2018B\u2019 game or a \u2018C\u2019 game.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sort of like handling tennis\u2019 version of a curveball.<\/p>\n
Which, in her own way, Ariel Ohno has dealt with already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even before she smacked her first college tennis ball, Ariel Ohno had to deal with a curveball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":15215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15214"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}