Lehigh University Athletics
Dwyer lets her actions do the talking
4/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The soft-spoken junior plays number one singles and number two doubles. As a sophomore, Dwyer was an All-Patriot League team selection. A team co-captain as a junior, Dwyer has developed into a leader, while balancing her on court success with academic achievement.
“I do a lot of leading by example,” explains Dwyer. “I’m not the most vocal person, but I’ll do certain little things to help my teammates out. I just try to make sure we’re able to do a lot of things together as a team.”
“Gwen is one of the finest people I have ever coached,” said Lehigh head coach Dave Shook, who is in his ninth year as the women’s coach and in his 17th year at Lehigh overall. “She leads by her sportsmanship, her morality and her integrity. There’s nobody around who doesn’t like her.”
A native of
“At first I thought it was all about engineering here,” Dwyer explains. “But then I found the program that I liked. The campus is beautiful, it’s a great place with Division I tennis. It’s far enough away that I could be away from home, but close enough for my family to come see me play.”
When she first began to play tennis at Lehigh, her quiet demeanor at times would get her into trouble. Tennis is a game of sportsmanship and gentlemanly play. At the college level, players call their own lines. In Dwyer’s case, she became a little too accommodating to her opponents, playing their out-of-bounds balls, instead of calling them out and winning the point.
“She always played out balls, it used to be a problem,” explained Shook, who quickly defended Dwyer by noting that “she’s made a good turnaround and shown good leadership skills.”
Shook continues, “Gwen is so rock solid. Her dependability is unmatched and you know she’s going to be out there giving it her all.”
Dwyer was so notoriously quiet, that as a freshman her older, more vocal teammates forced her to tell a joke at the beginning of every practice. More recently, Shook has on several occasions had his number one singles player announce the starting line-ups prior to a match.
“The captains were pretty tough on me in terms of wanting to get me to speak up more,” Dwyer reminisces. “As for the lineups, the first time I did it was in the fall at the Hall of Fame in
Despite occasionally being “too nice” to her opponents, Dwyer’s game has improved every season. She was 11-7 at singles as a freshman, and in 2005 as a sophomore earned All-League honors with a 9-10 singles mark and a team best 12-6 doubles record, while playing at second flight. This season, she has so far amassed an 8-10 record playing exclusively No. 1 singles and a 9-9 mark playing first and second doubles, for a team that finished the regular season with the second best record in the Patriot League.
“She’s our number one player and a team leader,” continues Shook. “She plays every match as hard as she can. She’s never missed a practice; I don’t think she’s ever not gone to a class. She does a great job. Her work ethic is incredible.”
Equally incredible are the numbers Dwyer puts up in the classroom. She earned a 3.58 grade point average, majoring in English, in the fall 2005 semester and has been a regular on both the Dean’s List and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. She became drawn to English in high school, and still enjoys reading and writing, and hopes to get into writing or publishing after graduation.
“English was my favorite subject in high school,” notes Dwyer, who expressed a particular appreciation for fiction, especially short stories. “Lehigh had an English program, and I discovered the creative writing department and I loved it.”
Michael Raposa is the associate dean for undergraduate studies in the college of arts and sciences. A professor in the Religion Studies Department for over 20 years, Raposa has had Dwyer in multiple classes. “She is a wonderful student, thoughtful and articulate, especially in her written work”, said Raposa, who is also an avid tennis enthusiast. “Gwen is so fun to watch on the courts, because she has a great game and is a fierce competitor, yet she displays perfect court demeanor. She is calm and self-confident yet always respectful of her opponents whether she is winning or losing.”
“She’s very stoic,” adds Shook. “Both when she’s winning and when she’s losing, her opponents never know what Gwen is thinking about, and she’s able to use that to her advantage.”
In addition to her tennis exploits and academic success, Dwyer has been an active participant in several campus organizations, including the University Christian Fellowship, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Amnesty International, which she helped revive on Lehigh’s campus.
Amnesty International is a worldwide group that has campaigned for internationally recognized human rights.
“It’s an international organization that works for justice and human rights,” explains Dwyer. “I just try to do my part. I’ve written letters. We’re just trying to help people. Sometimes Lehigh students get criticized for being apathetic, but we try to show that’s not the case.”
“It’s great to see a student-athlete like Gwen involved in so many campus activities,” said Raposa. I run into her at a great variety of lectures and events. She's getting the absolute maximum out of her college experience. We need more students like Gwen Dwyer at Lehigh.
When not competing, or studying, or getting involved on campus, Dwyer enjoys spending her free time reading, or listening to music (Dwyer is a self-proclaimed huge U2 fan), or following
Lehigh will be the number two seed in this weekend’s Patriot League Tournament, which takes place Saturday and Sunday at Army. The Mountain Hawks will face third-seed Bucknell, and Dwyer is excited about what lies ahead for her team.
“This might be the best shot we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Dwyer said. “We beat Bucknell in an exciting match 4-3 last week to get to this point, and we believe we can compete with every team in the league.”
The semifinal match between Lehigh and Bucknell will get underway at 2:00 pm Saturday from the Malek Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y. Top seeded Army will face No. 4 seed Colgate in the first semifinal at 10:00 am. The Championship match is slated for a noon start on Sunday.
