POCATELLO, Idaho - The men's tennis team looks to keep its Big Sky regular season title hopes alive this weekend with conference match-ups against North Dakota and Northern Colorado. It is also a big weekend for seniors
Nate Gross and
Charles Norman who will play their final home matches of their career Sunday in a non-conference match-up against Seattle.
Gross, a native of Sebastopol, Calif., has been at Idaho State all four years of his career and has seen the program steadily improve during his tenure.
“It's been great and I'm glad it didn't go the other way where everything peaked when I was a freshman,” Gross said. “I look forward to coming to practice every day and look forward to the matches. During my freshman and sophomore seasons it was a different mentality. I knew the team probably wouldn't win so I just tried to do the best I could individually. Now things are different. The guys coming in have a winning attitude already. As a team, we started to get used to winning and turned it around last season. Now we expect to win and we hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Norman joined the ISU squad during the 2012 season after transferring from Scottsdale Community College. Norman was instantly put at the No.1 singles position in his first season with the Bengals and while he won just one match that season, he was a major part of the program's turnaround last year.
Norman is a native of Durban, South Africa and first came to the states to play for Glendale Community College where he was a runner-up in the ITA/Wilson Southern California Tournament with doubles partner Michal Wood. Norman then transferred to Scottsdale Community College for one season before joining the Bengals for his junior year. His transition to the states as well as from junior college to Division I has been both a challenging and rewarding experience.
“My transition to the US was very difficult,” Norman said. “The cultural difference took a while to get used to. It was at least a year or so before I started to feel comfortable. I thought about going home for a while but when I came to Idaho State, I got a much better college experience and enjoyed it a lot more. The transition to Division I was also difficult at first. The level of play at junior college was really easy, especially at Scottsdale. When I got to Nationals it was more difficult but at Idaho State, I was put at the No. 1 right away and the level of play was high every time. I learned a lot last year and this year I have adjusted well to it I think.”
Both seniors started playing the sport at a young age. Norman first picked up a racquet at age five and Gross was about 10 years old when his father, a player on the squash pro tour, introduced him to the game. Both started to play competitively and focus primarily on tennis in their early teens. Soon both had their sites on playing at the collegiate level.
Gross made the decision to come to Idaho State after meeting with head coach
Bobby Goeltz.
“I really liked the coach and tuition at ISU was a lot cheaper than in California,” Gross said. “I was also looking for an adventure and was ready to get away from where I grew up.”
Norman became interested in ISU for what it offered academically.
“I was looking for a university to play at and preferably one that had a doctoral program in physical therapy. That's why I decided to come here.”
The decision to attend Idaho State has put both players in a position to win a Big Sky regular season title in their final campaigns at ISU, a notion both are very excited about.
“It's very exciting and yet at the same time a lot of pressure,” Gross said. “It has been a really good season so far but we still need to take care of business. The season will not be as impressive if we win the first six but lose the last four.”
“It's definitely an opportunity presented to us and I do feel like we have done the hardest part already,” Norman said. “But it is still ours to lose. We have to continue to go into every match and give each team the respect they deserve.”
Now that their playing careers are coming to an end, the two seniors are beginning to focus in on where they will go after Idaho State. Gross is tabbed to graduate this summer while Norman will receive his degree in May 2014.
After graduation, Gross plans to continue his education while staying involved with the sport he is so passionate about. He was recently accepted into the MBA program at Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia and will serve as the graduate assistant coach for the tennis program there.
Norman will also continue his education as he plans on going to grad school for physical therapy either at Idaho State or another university. He hopes to someday work in athletics in either tennis or golf.
Gross, Norman and the rest of the Bengals are currently 6-0 in the Big Sky and have clinched a spot in the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the first time since 2006. Norman was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on March 19, becoming the first ISU men's player to earn that honor since 2009. The Bengals are also looking to earn the program's first regular season title since 1990.
Before ISU can win the conference title, however, the program must focus on the two matches at hand this weekend. ISU's men face North Dakota and Northern Colorado this weekend. The Bengals face North Dakota Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. and Northern Colorado Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m. Gross and Norman play their final home matches Sunday, April 13 against Seattle in a non-conference contest beginning at 9 a.m.
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