SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Emily Buerschen keeps her opponents guessing.

"Her strokes are not perfectly orthodox, and she varies the way she hits the ball from one stroke to the next," Chaminade-Julienne High School tennis coach Jim Brooks said.

"Top spin ... slice ... a flat drive — her opponents never know what to expect. She has perfected the art of keeping people off balance."

The Eagles senior will take her unconventional technique to the University of Dayton in the fall to play for the Flyers.

"She's not as traditional as most players, but that's probably a positive because it's kind of perplexing for opponents," UD women's tennis coach Linda O'Keefe said of her recruit. "And she has such tenacity; she never quits.

"I'm looking for character and core values, and her overall personality and character were a good fit for our program. And she's lined up well academically."

Buerschen has been accepted into the honors program and plans to pursue pre-medicine.

"I fell in love with (UD) and the team right away," she said. "They made me feel really important."

The decision wasn't one she had always expected to make.

"When I was younger, I dreamed about going far away to go to school," she said. "But I like Dayton, and I like being close to my family.

"I think my biggest challenge is going to be time management, because tennis is pretty much every day, all year round. And I expect the honors program to be pretty intense as well."

The competition also will be intense — for a change.

"At the high school level, she went into more than half of her matches as the favorite," Brooks said. "In college, every time out, it's going to be tough."

Buerschen's experience playing singles and doubles will be an asset for the Flyers. She has played second or third singles but went to state in doubles three times with three different partners.

"Emily would have been the No. 1 singles player at 80 to 90 percent of the schools we played against," Brooks said. "She's that good."

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