Athlete of the Week: Somer Khanlarian

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Somer Khanlarian

Khanlarian hopes that all her hard work will culminate this year with a berth in the NCAA singles tournament. "It would take a lot of work, but my personal goal would be to make the NCAA singles," she said. Only 64 people get selected for this tournament, and it is a difficult process.

Khanlarian arrived at Yale after turning down a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a freshman, she played the majority of her matches at the top singles spot and went 9-6, racking up first team All-Ivy singles honors along the way.

The following year, Khanlarian built upon her success as she played the majority of her matches at No. 1 singles and five matches in the No. 2 spot. Khanlarian played to a 12-6 record and once again earned All-Ivy singles honors.

Junior year was a disappointing one for Khanlarian, but not because she played poorly--a back problem forced her to sit out the entire year. But Khanlarian has come back with a vengeance this year and is once again playing in the No. 1 singles spot for Yale. To date, her record is 7-2.

Her most recent success was a 6-0-1 triumph on Sat., Oct. 24, over a Rutgers opponent whom she had defeated by the exact same score earlier in the season during the ECAC semifinals. Before the match, Khanlarian defeated her Boston University opponent on Wed., Oct. 21, en route to Yale's 5-1 win.

The women's tennis team is 6-1 so far this year, with its only loss coming to Virginia Tech in the ECAC tournament, and Khanlarian has been a major contributing factor in its success.

In general, the team has high expectations for this year. "If we play to our potential, there's no reason we can't win the whole thing," Khanlarian said.

Khanlarian, who is an American Studies major and is planning to attend graduate school next year, said that her personal highlight so far in the season has been her success at the Yale Invitational tournament.

In the tournament, Khanlarian defeated her teammate and captain Sara Naison-Phillips, BK '99, in three sets to capture the A Flight singles title. In addition, Khanlarian teamed up with Cynthia Obsitnik, ES '01, to win the A Flight doubles title.

She lists the women's tennis team's win over Harvard at the ECAC tournament her second biggest highlight of the year. This was the first time Yale had beaten Harvard in 10 years.

Khanlarian sincerely believes that she can achieve her personal goal of making it to the NCAA singles tournament. She said that making the tournament just "boils down to getting good wins under your belt." So far, she's on the right track.

--Michael Horn

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