Becky Briese

By Kara Walser
UWRF Sports Information

Becky Briese, the only senior and the team captain, claims she is "the old one" on the Falcon tennis team.

Briese explains that the Falcons are a young team this year and as a captain, she is looked up to by her teammates. "I want to set a good example," says Briese. "I'm not much of a talker and I don't give speeches; I try to lead by example."

Although the team may be young, they are extremely talented and all share a love of the game, says Briese.

Briese is currently the No. 1 singles player and part of the No. 1 doubles team. Entering this season she has a career singles record of 33-15 and a career doubles record of 27-22.

In 2005, she was named the team's single player of the week twice and was also the team's double team of the week twice. She had a 9-6 record playing most often at No. 3 singles and an 8-7 record playing doubles.

Briese and her teammates have a great relationship in the eyes of their coach, Lee Lueck. Lueck says Briese's teammates love and respect her. "They work for her and they can go to her for insight and advice," says Lueck.

Briese explains," We have a great relationship as a team. We can have fun and joke around. We all share a great drive for the game."

She says that the love of the game is what separates college and high school tennis. "In high school, we played to have fun," says Briese. "If you won, that's great. If you lost, you still had fun. It was just a great way to have fun with your friends."

In college though, Briese says the game is tougher and there are a lot of talented players. The game is more serious but you can still have fun. "Everyone loves the sport," says Briese.

Lueck explains that Briese made some significant improvements during her years at UWRF. "She can now execute every stroke and is in excellent physical and mental shape. She also keeps the team fit and in shape," says Lueck.

Briese explains that she has all the strokes she needs to win. Her coach now has her working on believing in herself and her ability to win. Lueck says that Briese has set goals for herself and will follow through with them. He explains that her shot making ability has improved and she has developed the tools to outlast her opponents.  

"Becky brings leadership to the team. As the only senior, she is looked up to," says Lueck.   She understands the ability levels of her teammates, her opponents and herself.

According to Briese, making No. 1 singles and doubles has been her greatest achievement in her tennis career. She has always loved playing singles and has started to love playing doubles. "I have always been a singles player," she says.

Briese started her tennis career in seventh grade. After coming home from a family vacation in Montana, Briese was persuaded to join the tennis team by her friends. Though she actually wanted to play volleyball, Briese explains that she was shy and the volleyball girls were popular, so she decided to stick with her friends and give tennis a try. "I didn't know anything about tennis and had to borrow a wooden racket for the first day of practice," she says.

Briese enjoys kayaking in her free time. During her sophomore year, Briese and her boyfriend bought kayaks and she has loved the activity ever since. Last year, she learned how to fly fish and enjoys going ice fishing in her time away from the courts. Hunting is also one of her favorite activities. Briese recently went duck hunting on the last weekend in September.  

She likes the color black, the actress Julia Stiles and watching Project Runway and Orange County Choppers. Her favorite food is steak and potatoes.