For Georgetown tennis sensation Liora Gelblum, academics always come first. As an International Economics major in the School of Foreign Service with a pre-med concentration, Gelblum has to work hard to stay on top of her busy class schedule. Fortunately for Georgetown, Gelblum gives the same effort on the court as off, helping to lead the women’s tennis team for the last year and a half.
Gelbum, a sophomore from northern California, has already put up impressive numbers in 2002, with a 7-3 record this fall. Gelblum was 16-10 overall last year, mostly at the No. 1 singles position, a fantastic showing for her first year of collegiate play.
Since coming to Georgetown, Gelblum has had a major impact on the Hoyas’ success, helping to propel them to within a game of reaching the Big East Championships last year before the team fell 4-3 to Rutgers and were denied a spot in the tournament.
“Rutgers is one of our biggest rivals,” Gelblum said. “After last year I would love to go out there and beat them. They are always tough opponents, but I’m confident our team can win this year and that we can be successful in the Big East.”
Gelblum, alongside fellow sophomores Lydia Bartell and Trina Snow, traveled to Harvard last weekend to play in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Singles and Doubles Championships, where she competed in the main singles draw. Her first match pitted her against junior Daniela Kaluskova of Syracuse. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, Gelblum lost 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, in a monumental match that took over four hours to finish.
“The match was so intense,” she said. “I had match point, but unfortunately I just couldn’t finish her off. We both played our best though and that made it exciting.”
At the D.C Metro Intercollegiate Championships, co-hosted by Georgetown, American University and George Washington University earlier this month, Gelblum breezed through the early rounds of the Flight A singles competition, winning her first two matches 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-1 respectively. In the semi-finals, Gelblum squared off against teammate Snow, whom she defeated, 7-6, 6-3. In her first tournament final of the season, Gelblum faced senior Tatiana Okpala of Howard University, who finally defeated her 6-4, 6-2 to win the championship. While she did not win the tournament, it was a great showing for Gelblum and set the stage for what has been a successful fall.
At the Eastern College Athletic Conference Invitational on Oct. 13, Gelblum helped the Hoyas to a 12th place finish, their highest in the tournament since 1990. In Georgetown’s victory over Big East rival UConn, Gelblum beat sophomore Whitney Simcik 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match to tie the team score at 1 and fuel the Hoyas on to a 5-2 team victory.
Gelblum started playing tennis “for fun” at nine years old and was competing in tournaments by age 11. She has modeled her style of play after former world No. 1 Martina Hingis. “I admire the fact that Hingis isn’t big or strong, but she is mentally tough and can easily find her opponent’s weaknesses,” she said.
Gelblum played in national tournaments from the time she was 16, and her experience with such a high level of competition helped make her transition to college play easier.
“Collegiate tennis is more fun because there is more pressure,” Gelblum said. “In tournaments as a kid, if I lost a match that was it. Now when I play, I’m playing for a whole team.”
The Georgetown women will not play again until Big East competition begins in the spring, and Gelblum says she is already impatient.
“I would like to play even better in the spring. The matches are more important and I want to go out and win, because our goal is to make it all the way to the Big East Championships,” she said.
