Colorado State University Athletics
RamWire: Rams' Duo Collects States and Steam
9/9/2019 2:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Program expects to challenge for conference title
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – How many states have you been to?
This all started innocently enough between Colorado State women's tennis teammates Emily Luetschwager and Priscilla Palermo their freshman season. Just a conversation during road trips.
So they started counting, and it became a competition between two girls who used to meet regularly on the junior's circuit when they were younger. You can't really call them rivals, though they'd regularly meet in tournament finals, because they never did. Just competitors who gradually started to become friends.
It grew to the point where they and their families would hang out together at tournaments, sit next to each other in the stands and grab meals as one happy tennis troupe.
"We're in this state's competition, who can go to the most states first," Palermo said. "I don't know why it started. Being from the Midwest, the two of us, we didn't have a lot of the western states our freshman year, like New Mexico and Idaho. We started counting our states, and as we picked them up through travel, we started comparing. We agreed last spring we'd play a tournament in a state we haven't been so we could pick up states."
Which they did. In Maine, crossing one off the list for both. Actually, more than one.
Luetschwager said her family prefers to drive, so they set out from Wisconsin and she and her father planned to extend the trip, renting a cabin to do some fishing. Along the way, she crossed off a few more.
Palermo's family flew from Chicago to Bangor.
"So Maine was not the only state we stopped at, so there were a couple sneak attacks,"
Palermo said. "Like she randomly," and Luetschwager cuts in – "We detoured through Vermont and New Hampshire to pick up a couple."
"She then sent me a picture with her feet in the state," Palermo added. "Then I did the same thing with New Hampshire."
Luetschwager hit New Hampshire first, then touched into Connecticut and Massachusetts, with Palermo grabbing Rhode Island.
While they were there, they did play some tennis. Together, naturally, reigniting their strong doubles play for the Rams last year, and also as foes once again. A return to those junior days when Palermo topped her future teammate three tourneys in a row. This result, another three-set match, with Palermo taking the tiebreak, 11-9, after they won the doubles title.
They have both played the top spot in singles at CSU, one year after the other. Luetschwager was 17-12 in singles play for CSU last season, 10-9 in the top spot. Palermo was 18-12, most of her wins in the fourth position. Put together, they went 13-3 overall as a doubles team, 8-2 in the third spot.
So when coach Jarod Camerota saw the results from Maine, he didn't blink an eye.
"I just know the depth of our team, and there's not always a huge separation," he said. "Priscilla played one freshman year, Emily played her sophomore year. We just have a deep team, so it wasn't super surprising.
"One of them played No. 1 one year, one of them played No. 1 the other. Who knows who plays No. 1 this year. We'll find out when the results happen."
The Rams will eventually work it out, though neither player carries an ego about the position in the lineup. As they have deciphered at practice over their careers, it all plays out.
"It shows how deep our team is," Luetschwager said. "Somebody playing No. 6 could probably put up a fight at No. 1. We're a pretty solid group of girls. A lot of our lineup, in practice, anyone can beat anyone in any given day. A lot of it is looking at other teams and where can we put people in the lineup to best beat them."
When Camerota entered the 2018-19 season, he carried a bit of confidence about his team, one he didn't think they shared with him, at least not until later in the campaign. The squad posted its first winning record since 2005, grabbing victories against Wyoming (first time in a decade), beating Boise State for the first time and finishing with three conference victories. Four player earned All-Mountain West honors, Luetschwager one of them at singles.
As good as a sensation as it was, they all know it could have been better. Three of their conference losses came by 4-3 scores.
"Last year was a just a great testament. We had close matches with everyone in the conference," Luetschwager said. "We went 4-3 with UNLV, who won it. It goes to show we're not CSU who just shows up to play anymore, we're here to win, and I think other teams take us more seriously. We know saying we're going to win the Mountain West isn't a lofty goal anymore, it's closer to an expectation. It's what we could do."
Their attitude is what Camerota likes most about them, especially when paired together.
Knowing they are close to crossing the line is a start, but the Rams still have to perform. With the majority of the team returning, including All-MW singles and doubles performer Stella Cliffe (22-9 in singles), the pieces are in place as they open the schedule at the Bedford Cup Tournament at the Air Force Academy, Sept. 12-15.
"I think I just like that they battle," Camerota said of Luetschwager and Palermo. "Last year, I think they won their last five in a row and were 8-2 in dual matches for the season (a doubles). It took us a while to figure out our doubles teams last year, but they competed to the end. In some of those big ones, they were down early and they ended up coming back. They clinched a doubles point against Wyoming and against Nevada in the conference tournament. They just battle, and they're willing to play whatever style wins, not whatever style is traditional."
The way they see it, they're mirror images of each other on the court, both satisfied to push for points from the baseline. Palermo just does it as a lefty, which they both say throws them off at times.
Not very often, however, as the record would indicate, and they hope they can pair up again this year. Having a cohesion with your partner works wonders on the court, and they have theirs down pat.
"It's part of it, because we both like to grind from the baseline, which is unusual, because most people play one forward one back," Palermo said. "We realized we're more successful playing two people back at the baseline. We have a lot of chemistry, and were really good at communicating on the court. We're able to problem solve right away, and that's why our doubles was successful last season.
"We're also very aware of strengths and weaknesses, particularly in each other."
They became friendly as juniors, then a friendship started to blossom on their recruiting trip, one where Cliffe joined them. So in Maine, nothing seemed out of place. The family meals, the doubles title, even playing for the singles championship.
It was all old hat. It just happened to be in a new state, each of the collecting a check mark. As the competition stands, both have reached 38 on the list.
"I'm going to pick up Texas this spring, so watch out," Luetschwager joked.
This all started innocently enough between Colorado State women's tennis teammates Emily Luetschwager and Priscilla Palermo their freshman season. Just a conversation during road trips.
So they started counting, and it became a competition between two girls who used to meet regularly on the junior's circuit when they were younger. You can't really call them rivals, though they'd regularly meet in tournament finals, because they never did. Just competitors who gradually started to become friends.
It grew to the point where they and their families would hang out together at tournaments, sit next to each other in the stands and grab meals as one happy tennis troupe.
"We're in this state's competition, who can go to the most states first," Palermo said. "I don't know why it started. Being from the Midwest, the two of us, we didn't have a lot of the western states our freshman year, like New Mexico and Idaho. We started counting our states, and as we picked them up through travel, we started comparing. We agreed last spring we'd play a tournament in a state we haven't been so we could pick up states."
Which they did. In Maine, crossing one off the list for both. Actually, more than one.
Luetschwager said her family prefers to drive, so they set out from Wisconsin and she and her father planned to extend the trip, renting a cabin to do some fishing. Along the way, she crossed off a few more.
Palermo's family flew from Chicago to Bangor.
"So Maine was not the only state we stopped at, so there were a couple sneak attacks,"
Palermo said. "Like she randomly," and Luetschwager cuts in – "We detoured through Vermont and New Hampshire to pick up a couple."
"She then sent me a picture with her feet in the state," Palermo added. "Then I did the same thing with New Hampshire."
Luetschwager hit New Hampshire first, then touched into Connecticut and Massachusetts, with Palermo grabbing Rhode Island.
While they were there, they did play some tennis. Together, naturally, reigniting their strong doubles play for the Rams last year, and also as foes once again. A return to those junior days when Palermo topped her future teammate three tourneys in a row. This result, another three-set match, with Palermo taking the tiebreak, 11-9, after they won the doubles title.
They have both played the top spot in singles at CSU, one year after the other. Luetschwager was 17-12 in singles play for CSU last season, 10-9 in the top spot. Palermo was 18-12, most of her wins in the fourth position. Put together, they went 13-3 overall as a doubles team, 8-2 in the third spot.
So when coach Jarod Camerota saw the results from Maine, he didn't blink an eye.
"I just know the depth of our team, and there's not always a huge separation," he said. "Priscilla played one freshman year, Emily played her sophomore year. We just have a deep team, so it wasn't super surprising.
"One of them played No. 1 one year, one of them played No. 1 the other. Who knows who plays No. 1 this year. We'll find out when the results happen."
The Rams will eventually work it out, though neither player carries an ego about the position in the lineup. As they have deciphered at practice over their careers, it all plays out.
"It shows how deep our team is," Luetschwager said. "Somebody playing No. 6 could probably put up a fight at No. 1. We're a pretty solid group of girls. A lot of our lineup, in practice, anyone can beat anyone in any given day. A lot of it is looking at other teams and where can we put people in the lineup to best beat them."
When Camerota entered the 2018-19 season, he carried a bit of confidence about his team, one he didn't think they shared with him, at least not until later in the campaign. The squad posted its first winning record since 2005, grabbing victories against Wyoming (first time in a decade), beating Boise State for the first time and finishing with three conference victories. Four player earned All-Mountain West honors, Luetschwager one of them at singles.
As good as a sensation as it was, they all know it could have been better. Three of their conference losses came by 4-3 scores.
"Last year was a just a great testament. We had close matches with everyone in the conference," Luetschwager said. "We went 4-3 with UNLV, who won it. It goes to show we're not CSU who just shows up to play anymore, we're here to win, and I think other teams take us more seriously. We know saying we're going to win the Mountain West isn't a lofty goal anymore, it's closer to an expectation. It's what we could do."
Their attitude is what Camerota likes most about them, especially when paired together.
Knowing they are close to crossing the line is a start, but the Rams still have to perform. With the majority of the team returning, including All-MW singles and doubles performer Stella Cliffe (22-9 in singles), the pieces are in place as they open the schedule at the Bedford Cup Tournament at the Air Force Academy, Sept. 12-15.
"I think I just like that they battle," Camerota said of Luetschwager and Palermo. "Last year, I think they won their last five in a row and were 8-2 in dual matches for the season (a doubles). It took us a while to figure out our doubles teams last year, but they competed to the end. In some of those big ones, they were down early and they ended up coming back. They clinched a doubles point against Wyoming and against Nevada in the conference tournament. They just battle, and they're willing to play whatever style wins, not whatever style is traditional."
The way they see it, they're mirror images of each other on the court, both satisfied to push for points from the baseline. Palermo just does it as a lefty, which they both say throws them off at times.
Not very often, however, as the record would indicate, and they hope they can pair up again this year. Having a cohesion with your partner works wonders on the court, and they have theirs down pat.
"It's part of it, because we both like to grind from the baseline, which is unusual, because most people play one forward one back," Palermo said. "We realized we're more successful playing two people back at the baseline. We have a lot of chemistry, and were really good at communicating on the court. We're able to problem solve right away, and that's why our doubles was successful last season.
"We're also very aware of strengths and weaknesses, particularly in each other."
They became friendly as juniors, then a friendship started to blossom on their recruiting trip, one where Cliffe joined them. So in Maine, nothing seemed out of place. The family meals, the doubles title, even playing for the singles championship.
It was all old hat. It just happened to be in a new state, each of the collecting a check mark. As the competition stands, both have reached 38 on the list.
"I'm going to pick up Texas this spring, so watch out," Luetschwager joked.
Players Mentioned
Sunday, March 31
Sunday, March 03
Monday, April 23
Friday, April 20