Grace Hashiguchi Reflects on Standout Freshman Tennis Season

Fighting is what the Liberty women’s tennis team does best, according to freshman Grace Hashiguchi. In her opinion, the team has been successful this season because each athlete is not simply fighting to win a match for themselves; they fight for each other, too.

This freshman tennis standout’s favorite thing about her first year in college has been experiencing the unity and closeness of her team.

“When we’re in matches, we’re really engaged and cheering for each other and encouraging to other people on our team,” Hashiguchi said. “I just love that. We’re not there to compete individually for ourselves, we’re there to compete for the team.”

Hashiguchi made her mark at Liberty early on in her college career, claiming two Big South Tennis Freshman of the Week awards this spring.

Hashiguchi accredited much of her success this season to her connection with her partner Becca Anderson and the way their play and personalities clicked so quickly after testing out different partners in the fall season.

“In the spring, I started playing with Becca and we just work well together,” Hashiguchi said. “A lot of doubles is trusting your partner, and Becca and I have a lot of trust in each other. We started playing when we went to Texas and played a doubles match there and, I mean, I just felt it.”

This year could have looked very different for Hashiguchi and Liberty’s team, however. Last year, in her senior year of high school, Hashiguchi had been committed to James Madison University until the spring when she reversed her decision.

“I withdrew my application and told the coach ‘No,’ and so I was in this last-minute hurry to go find a school,” Hashiguchi said. “Another school fell through too, so I ended up coming to Liberty because I just felt like it was something God wanted me to do.”

Hashiguchi said that even though it has been a crazy journey, she is now able to understand why God brought her here. According to her, she would not be doing as well as she is today without the team she is surrounded by.

“Team culture and connection just helps a lot, because obviously we’re all trying to do it for God, and that has a lot of impact on how we play,” Hashiguchi said. “We’re fighting for God, for our team, for our coaches. I feel like, as a team, just because we love God and are doing it for God, that definitely brings us closer and that just helps us do better.”

Hashiguchi and the rest of the Lady Flames continued their journey with a 4-0 victory at the Big South Conference Championships versus No. 3 seed Campbell April 20.

Her mindset going into the final tournament was to do her best and help her team reach their goal of winning conference for the first time. Hashiguchi said a tough match against Marshall April 12 prepared the team to compete at the championships.

“There was a lot of pressure in that match because there were a lot of games going on with crazy wins and the girls were good,” Hashiguchi said. “There were a lot of factors going against us, but in those kind of matches you kind of have to stay mentally tough. I think going into conference, we all learned from the Marshall match and throughout the whole entire spring season.”

At her first appearance at the Big South tournament, Hashiguchi said it was challenging not having the advantage of familiarity with the opposing teams the same way upperclassmen might. However, she and her coaches navigated this hardship through preparation of watching video and creating a game plan.

The Flames fell 4-3 to No. 1 Winthrop University Saturday, April 21, in the Conference Championship, concluding the end of Hashiguchi’s freshman season.