Tennis’ Winkel plays for wins in final season; wants conference ring, title

Senior Monica Winkel’s first tennis opponent was big, strong and immovable. Why? Because it was just a wall.
“I thought it (tennis) was cool, so my mom bought me a racket and  I started playing against the wall,” Winkel said.
She said while waiting for her older brother to finish practicing, she would be on the side wall with her racket and ball  practicing also. She attended a tennis academy in Holland before coming to ULM, but she said she wanted to know what to do to play collegiately. A game that started out as “cool” and with an opponent that seemed all but unbeatable, Winkel mastered tennis well enough to make it to the collegiate level and earn recognition. Last season she earned All-Sun Belt honors in doubles and singles play.

Assistant coach R.J. Nagel said the improvement in Winkel’s game since his arrival is like “day and night.”
Nagel said, “The improvement is amazing. It’s the little things like the one-on-one’s that make the difference for us.”
In double’s play, Winkel paired with Claire Clark for the past two seasons, but Clark finished her collegiate career last spring. Together Winkel and Clark dominated doubles play in the 2011 season with 19-1 record.
Since Clark has left, Winkel’s new partner sophomore Medy Blankvoort has filled in just fine. Winkel and Blankvoort won their first doubles match together in the fall season.

Winkel said, “It’s going good, but you always have to get use to  somebody new.”
Blankvoort said, “Monica’s been pretty great. It’s always good to have someone who wants to win just as bad as you do.”
She said, “I can always count on her that she wants to win no matter what.”
With the Sun Belt Conference championships nearing, Winkel said, “This is my last chance to get that ring, so we better go big.”
Blankvoort said the best part about Winkel is when she gets mad.
She said, “It’s like a fire standing next me, and that is hard to keep up with.”