Treasure from the Treasure State – Mustangs junior part of recent positive Montana influx

Emily Clotfelter's voyage from the barley fields of central Montana to Sioux City isn't a new theme for Morningside University tennis.

Assistant coach Larry Mason has recently gotten student-athletes from Big Sky Country. Gabe DeLeo, a current men's team member, and alumnus Jory Opp call Montana home.

There's a success story in all three cases. Opp had a winning junior campaign in singles action and was above five-or-more victories twice, while DeLeo sits at .500 for the men this season. Clotfelter's resume may be the trio's top, as she has been in the number one singles and doubles role in her three seasons.

Emily's tennis background may not have started until her junior high years, but it's been a star-studded one.

"I honestly didn't take it seriously until high school," she reflected. "(Former head) Coach (Dianne) Bremer was just a lot of fun to be around. She was always talking to her students about playing tennis. That's what got my friends and me involved." 

With Bremer's and older sister Cassidy's, shepherding, Emily got herself involved. It was an immediate match made in heaven. Clotfelter not only worked out during practices for the Fairfield High School Eagles, but she also drove 35 miles to Great Falls for professional instruction.

"We used to do so for team practices," she reflected. "However, I just wanted to keep getting better and figured this was the best way."

With that extra work, intense practice, and competition ethic, Clotfelter qualified for state as a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. She wasn't just in Missoula to be a part of the experience, either, managing as high as a third-place finish in C singles in 2018.

Clotfelter has taken that same drive into the Mustangs program. After a tough luck freshman year where she had two singles and doubles victories, Emily rose to nine singles triumphs and just under .500 in doubles play as a sophomore and is moving towards 20 career singles wins and has paired with three different partners to register an 11-6 doubles mark this season.

"Every player on the team has a strong mentality," she remarked when asked about her recent rise. "I've had to work towards that to help lead at the number one slot. 

"It's all about staying in as many points as possible," she added. "We saw that in full force last year at the conference tournament when our number six player had to battle for each service, return … all the way down the line to get the deciding point for the championship."

Even though hitting .500-or-above heights in singles action hasn't been easy, Clotfelter knows she is prepared with the competition she's been against for situations like the GPAC Championships, which are next on the 2021-22 schedule.

"It forces you to play your best tennis," she stated about the number one spot. "No match is easy." 

"I've been working towards several technical improvements, including serving and some return play, especially in doubles," she added. "Playing at such a high level demands me not to allow my opponent a chance to break my serve, as an example. With that in mind, I have to excel even more to get them to break."

That kind of grit also translates to her academic career. Taking the biology/chemistry road and wanting to get into medical school can be tough to navigate, but Clotfelter's penchant for hard work translates the same way it does on the court.

"Study and classwork go hand-in-hand with practicing to get better in sports," she said. "I want to be the best in that part of my collegiate experience."

Working to be another treasure from the Treasure State – something that comes to Emily firsthand.