Friday, April 18
Lewisburg, Pa.
11:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
Bucknell
Lehigh's leader Bilimoria has come a long way
4/17/2014 12:58:00 PM | Women's Tennis
By Robert Halliman '14
Patriot League Tournament Home
Lehigh tennis senior Jenai Bilimoria knows a thing or two about change. Whether its location, surroundings, acclimating to life on three different continents, Bilimoria has made life's transitions look effortless. She has developed into one of the Patriot League's top players in her four years at Lehigh. While an injury may prevent Bilimoria from leading the Mountain Hawks into the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, it's been a fun journey.
Raised in India and primarily educated in Spain, Bilimoria has spent the majority of her life between Europe, Asia and the United States; flourishing and accepting change as she's evolved into the epitome of a student-athlete.
After first picking up a racket at the age of eight, Jenai credits her brother as her biggest influence to start playing the sport competitively.
"I started playing when I was around eight after I saw how much my brother enjoyed it," Bilimoria said. "I really enjoyed the game and wanted to play more and more and that's when my parents put me into a more serious coaching environment where I began to play competitively."
To advance her tennis aspirations, the Bilimoria family made a huge move, changing the course of her life and ultimately creating the path that led her to Lehigh.
Heading into her junior year of high school, the decision was made to leave her parents and move from her native India to Spain for her final two years of high school attending Schiller American Academy in Barcelona. She enrolled in the on-campus tennis program Sanchez Canal Academy, a worldwide program that operates in a few countries including the U.S. Bilimoria attended the same tennis program that produced stars such as Andy Murray and Martina Navratilova.
"At Sanchez Canal Academy, I was able to improve my tennis game, this really gave me the opportunity to not only get better, but it helped give me the opportunity to be exposed to schools in America, like Lehigh," Bilimoria said.
Bilimoria posted a 4.0 GPA in her senior year at Schiller. She excelled in the classroom as well as on the tennis court, winning the school's Science Prize, while being named to the Principal's Deans List.
After garnering interest of several universities, the future Patriot league star packed her bags once again and headed to the states landing at what turned out to be the perfect fit at Lehigh.
"Lehigh was the perfect choice with great academics and a good division one tennis program," she said. "Also, the coaches were very helpful and supportive throughout this decision process."
Using her early success in the classroom to parlay into a smooth transition at the college level she was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll as a freshman, proving that the difficulties of being a student athlete at a prestigious university could be handled.
A psychology major, Bilimoria cites the understanding of different personalities that her major requires as one of the driving forces that have helped her lead the women's tennis team after being named a team captain during her sophomore season.
"I think being a psychology major makes you more aware of other peoples' feelings and personalities," Bilimoria explains. "Although it hasn't had a direct effect on my tennis career, it has helped me with my position as a leader and captain."
In her third season as Lehigh's top singles and doubles player, Bilimoria posted a singles record of 5-8 and a doubles mark of 7-7. A humble star, Bilimoria talks selflessly about the improvements in her game.
"My coaches have added a lot more variety into my game and therefore even looking at my results you can see that I lost to certain players my freshman year, and then went on to beat them in the next years," she said. "This was all because of the effort and support of my coaches."
The adjustment to college tennis didn't come easy for the player who went on to become a two-time All Patriot League selection. Establishing herself as one of the top players on the team from the day she stepped on campus, the young left hander was thrust into Lehigh's No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles position. She struggled early on finishing her freshman campaign with a record of 3-13 in singles, and 5-11 in doubles.
"When I first came in freshman year, I was a very defensive player," Bilimoria recalled. "I never went to the net and i had never played doubles before, in fact I was scared to be at the net."
Despite the early success, Bilimoria cites coaching as the main thing that helped evolve her game.
Her bounce back in her tennis game is comparative to her two favorite players Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, two players whose grit and toughness has been displayed throughout their careers.
"They both have this fighting personality in which they never give up even if they are a match point down," Bilimoria said of Nadal and Sharapova. "It is amazing to watch them and their desire to win."
That desire to win proved to be the driving force to improve her game as her sophomore year proved to be light years ahead of her freshman campaign. More acclimated to the rigors of college tennis, everything came together in Bilimoria's second season. She was voted the team's Most Outstanding Athlete, leading the Mountain Hawks with eight singles wins and earning second team All-Patriot League honors.
The 2013 season saw Bilimoria named first team All-League. She posted eight wins at No. 1 singles and teamed with partner Abby Farrell to win ten doubles matches.
A very generous person, Bilimoria has spent her summers as a camp counselor at two camps, Camp Altitude, a sleep away camp for special needs children in California and Camp Akeela, a camp for children with social cognitive challenges where she plans to continue working this upcoming summer upon graduation.
After her summer travels Bilimoria plans to return to India and take a year off, focusing on gaining some experience in clinical psychology before rededicating herself to her studies and moving back to the states to pursue a graduate degree. She reflects on her Lehigh career with no complaints or regrets.
"My career at Lehigh has been everything I could have asked for," she said. "From freshman year to senior year I have seen myself develop into a player that I always wanted to be. Thanks to my amazing coaches and teammates I can say that I have come a long way since first coming to Lehigh."
Bilimoria's senior season came to a premature end after suffering an injury during doubles play in Lehigh's rivalry win over Lafayette, but the team leader will be supporting her teammates at the Patriot League Tournament, beginning Friday at Bucknell. The No. 5 seed Mountain Hawks (7-9) will face the host and No. 4 seed Bison in Friday's second quarterfinal at 11 a.m.
Lehigh will be looking to snap a ten match slide against Bucknell (6-7, 3-2 Patriot League) while also looking to advance to the Patriot League semifinals for the first time since 2008.
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Patriot League Tournament Home
Lehigh tennis senior Jenai Bilimoria knows a thing or two about change. Whether its location, surroundings, acclimating to life on three different continents, Bilimoria has made life's transitions look effortless. She has developed into one of the Patriot League's top players in her four years at Lehigh. While an injury may prevent Bilimoria from leading the Mountain Hawks into the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, it's been a fun journey.
Raised in India and primarily educated in Spain, Bilimoria has spent the majority of her life between Europe, Asia and the United States; flourishing and accepting change as she's evolved into the epitome of a student-athlete.
After first picking up a racket at the age of eight, Jenai credits her brother as her biggest influence to start playing the sport competitively.
"I started playing when I was around eight after I saw how much my brother enjoyed it," Bilimoria said. "I really enjoyed the game and wanted to play more and more and that's when my parents put me into a more serious coaching environment where I began to play competitively."
To advance her tennis aspirations, the Bilimoria family made a huge move, changing the course of her life and ultimately creating the path that led her to Lehigh.
Heading into her junior year of high school, the decision was made to leave her parents and move from her native India to Spain for her final two years of high school attending Schiller American Academy in Barcelona. She enrolled in the on-campus tennis program Sanchez Canal Academy, a worldwide program that operates in a few countries including the U.S. Bilimoria attended the same tennis program that produced stars such as Andy Murray and Martina Navratilova.
"At Sanchez Canal Academy, I was able to improve my tennis game, this really gave me the opportunity to not only get better, but it helped give me the opportunity to be exposed to schools in America, like Lehigh," Bilimoria said.
Bilimoria posted a 4.0 GPA in her senior year at Schiller. She excelled in the classroom as well as on the tennis court, winning the school's Science Prize, while being named to the Principal's Deans List.
After garnering interest of several universities, the future Patriot league star packed her bags once again and headed to the states landing at what turned out to be the perfect fit at Lehigh.
"Lehigh was the perfect choice with great academics and a good division one tennis program," she said. "Also, the coaches were very helpful and supportive throughout this decision process."
Using her early success in the classroom to parlay into a smooth transition at the college level she was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll as a freshman, proving that the difficulties of being a student athlete at a prestigious university could be handled.
A psychology major, Bilimoria cites the understanding of different personalities that her major requires as one of the driving forces that have helped her lead the women's tennis team after being named a team captain during her sophomore season.
"I think being a psychology major makes you more aware of other peoples' feelings and personalities," Bilimoria explains. "Although it hasn't had a direct effect on my tennis career, it has helped me with my position as a leader and captain."
In her third season as Lehigh's top singles and doubles player, Bilimoria posted a singles record of 5-8 and a doubles mark of 7-7. A humble star, Bilimoria talks selflessly about the improvements in her game.
"My coaches have added a lot more variety into my game and therefore even looking at my results you can see that I lost to certain players my freshman year, and then went on to beat them in the next years," she said. "This was all because of the effort and support of my coaches."
The adjustment to college tennis didn't come easy for the player who went on to become a two-time All Patriot League selection. Establishing herself as one of the top players on the team from the day she stepped on campus, the young left hander was thrust into Lehigh's No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles position. She struggled early on finishing her freshman campaign with a record of 3-13 in singles, and 5-11 in doubles.
"When I first came in freshman year, I was a very defensive player," Bilimoria recalled. "I never went to the net and i had never played doubles before, in fact I was scared to be at the net."
Despite the early success, Bilimoria cites coaching as the main thing that helped evolve her game.
Her bounce back in her tennis game is comparative to her two favorite players Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, two players whose grit and toughness has been displayed throughout their careers.
"They both have this fighting personality in which they never give up even if they are a match point down," Bilimoria said of Nadal and Sharapova. "It is amazing to watch them and their desire to win."
That desire to win proved to be the driving force to improve her game as her sophomore year proved to be light years ahead of her freshman campaign. More acclimated to the rigors of college tennis, everything came together in Bilimoria's second season. She was voted the team's Most Outstanding Athlete, leading the Mountain Hawks with eight singles wins and earning second team All-Patriot League honors.
The 2013 season saw Bilimoria named first team All-League. She posted eight wins at No. 1 singles and teamed with partner Abby Farrell to win ten doubles matches.
A very generous person, Bilimoria has spent her summers as a camp counselor at two camps, Camp Altitude, a sleep away camp for special needs children in California and Camp Akeela, a camp for children with social cognitive challenges where she plans to continue working this upcoming summer upon graduation.
After her summer travels Bilimoria plans to return to India and take a year off, focusing on gaining some experience in clinical psychology before rededicating herself to her studies and moving back to the states to pursue a graduate degree. She reflects on her Lehigh career with no complaints or regrets.
"My career at Lehigh has been everything I could have asked for," she said. "From freshman year to senior year I have seen myself develop into a player that I always wanted to be. Thanks to my amazing coaches and teammates I can say that I have come a long way since first coming to Lehigh."
Bilimoria's senior season came to a premature end after suffering an injury during doubles play in Lehigh's rivalry win over Lafayette, but the team leader will be supporting her teammates at the Patriot League Tournament, beginning Friday at Bucknell. The No. 5 seed Mountain Hawks (7-9) will face the host and No. 4 seed Bison in Friday's second quarterfinal at 11 a.m.
Lehigh will be looking to snap a ten match slide against Bucknell (6-7, 3-2 Patriot League) while also looking to advance to the Patriot League semifinals for the first time since 2008.
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