Tennis, according to Point Loma Nazarene University sophomore Alexander Leischner (above), is passed down from generation to generation in his family, as if it were an old scrapbook or piece of jewelry.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom, my grandpa, my great-great grandpa, all played tennis,\u201d Leischner said.<\/p>\n
There is some debate about what came first, his steps or his serve. What he does remember is the feeling of jealousy that came over him when his older sister began taking lessons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started playing when I was two-and-a-half years old because of my sister,\u201d he said. \u201cI was super jealous, so I was always playing with my mom in the street. My first lesson was at three-and-a-half.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leischner, a native of Aichach, Germany, spent much of this past season as an anchor for PLNU as the team\u2019s No. 1 and was named PacWest player of the year in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying the No. 1 position; every match out, he is having a big challenge,\u201d PLNU head coach, Curt Wheeler, in his eighth season with the Sea Lions, said. \u201cEven if we are playing teams that we are stronger than in other positions, they are almost always strong at that No. 1 position. His consistency with his tennis shots and with his mental focus really shone through this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
PLNU finished the season at 18-4 \u2013 the most wins in program history. The Sea Lions’ third-place finish at the PacWest Championships is also a program best. During one stretch of the season, the team won 12 straight contests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe beat every DI team we played,\u201d Leischner said. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s the best season Loma tennis has ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping the guys are focusing on how incredible of a year it was,\u201d Wheeler added, less than a week removed from season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
Leischner played in the No. 1 position in all but two contests. In doubles play, he worked in tandem with seniors Tyler Davis and Fabian Penzkofer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not make many errors when he was playing singles,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cHe makes his opponents earn everything. There were plenty of matches where you could tell opponents did not believe they could do certain things against him. He won some matches because he had that mental advantage with opponents coming out and knowing he doesn\u2019t have bad days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more consistent as a player [than freshman year],\u201d added Leischner. \u201cFreshman year was more defense. Now, if I have the opportunity, I will take it and attack more. I have a bit more offense in my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 6 feet 7 inches tall, Leischner\u2019s serve is a strength of his game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith his height, I think his serve is something he utilized more this year than last year,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cHe got a few easy points [with his serve].\u201d<\/p>\n
In a disappointing end to a massively successful season, PLNU dropped an NCAA West Regional match in front of a home crowd to Hawaii Pacific on April 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not say everyone expected we\u2019d go to Nationals,\u201d Leischner said. \u201cBut we were a two seed and they were a three seed and we had beaten them before. Everyone was super disappointed. In the locker room, everyone was quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all still thinking about it,\u201d Wheeler added. \u201cThat\u2019s the crazy thing about postseason play, anything can happen on any given day. This one being at home, there was a little bit of surprise. I told them \u2018This is sports and sometimes things simply don\u2019t go your way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
PLNU graduates several key players this year, including Tyler Davis, Fabian Penzkofer, and David Strassburger, who competed in the No. 2, 3, and 5 positions, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be very tough,\u201d Leischner said. \u201cThis year, looking at our roster, everyone expected us to win. Next year this won\u2019t be the case anymore, but I always love playing as an underdog.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are losing four guys at this moment,\u201d Wheeler added. \u201cBut at minimum, the experience of this season for the guys returning is going to be a big boost for next year. Hopefully, we are putting ourselves in this position again.\u201d<\/p>\n
As good as Leischner has been for the Sea Lions, Wheeler thinks he is still growing as a player.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s already gotten a lot better at this; but when he adds a little more aggressive play on his end to balance and mix up the more defensive game style, I think he has an opportunity to take his game to an even higher level,\u201d Wheeler said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tennis, according to Point Loma Nazarene University sophomore Alexander Leischner (above), is passed down from generation to generation in his family, as if it were an old scrapbook or piece of jewelry. \u201cMy mom, my grandpa, my great-great grandpa, all played tennis,\u201d Leischner said. There is some debate about what came first, his steps or […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":324203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Tennis, according to Point Loma Nazarene University sophomore Alexander Leischner, is passed down from generation to generation in his family, as if it were an old scrapbook or piece of jewelry.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15462,15464,15496],"tags":[15946,12685,12879],"class_list":["post-324200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peninsula-beacon-news","category-peninsula-beacon-sports","category-sdnews-sports","tag-pacwest","tag-point-loma-nazarene-university","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324204,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324200\/revisions\/324204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}