Courtesy of James Byard

Corinne Rauck hits a volley in a match against Wheaton College on May 10, 2013. Rauck has not lost a singles match since September as the women’s sixth-flight singles player, helping the Bears to a 13-3 record and top-10 national ranking.

Rauck has been passionate about the sport for years, and tying together with her love of medicine, she knew exactly where she wanted to be.

“I’ve known since I was little that I wanted to be a physician, so I thought that Division III was the way to go for me. Throughout middle school and high school, I knew that I wanted to play [Division III] college tennis,” Rauck said.

This spring, Rauck has effectively balanced the final semester of her strenuous Wash. U. workload with being a leader for the women’s tennis team. Rauck has not lost a singles match since September and has been instrumental in the helping the Bears to a 13-3 record and top-10 ranking.

Rauck has won 14 consecutive singles matches, and only one victory was not in straight sets. Overall, Rauck has a 15-1 singles record this season, and she credits her success to focusing on her own game rather than her opponents’.

“I think that not looking at the numbers has helped me. Once I got to a winning streak of nine, I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to stop reading the articles because I’m getting too nervous. Now I go on the court and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, don’t lose, what the heck,’ but I think that just trying to stay in the moment and really don’t even worry about my opponent,” Rauck said. “If my opponent is supposed to beat me, I don’t even care. I’m just going to go there and play the ball. I ignore [whom] I’m playing and just try to give it my all at the time. So I just think that my mental toughness has really helped me throughout the spring.”

Head coach Kelly Stahlhuth echoed those sentiments and believes that Rauck has the right mentality moving forward to finish the season strongly.

“Well, I think she’ll be able to sustain [this success] if we just keep her not thinking about it, keeping it one match at a time and worrying about the exact moment, and she’s been doing really well doing that,” Stahlhuth said.

Rauck has been a force to be reckoned with in the classroom, too, as she made the University Athletic Association all-academic team in 2012 and 2013. Rauck is majoring in biochemistry and plans to go to medical school, after which she hopes to become a physician.

Rauck has known from an early age what her profession would be, and she chose Wash. U. because of its strong academics and tennis program.

Even though Rauck was drawn to Wash. U.’s nationally ranked tennis team, Stahlhuth didn’t recruit her. Nonetheless, Rauck is glad that she tried out for the team.

“I was kind of like a walk-on; I wasn’t really recruited. Coach [Stahlhuth] didn’t recruit me heavily at all, so I was like, ‘I hope I can play for you guys,’ and then it’s just been such a great experience these past four years, Rauck said.   

In high school, Rauck played for a tennis club in Columbus, Ohio, that consistently produced college-ready tennis players. The intensity of that club prepared Rauck for competition at the collegiate level, although the difference in coaching styles has been drastic.

“[My coach] definitely pushed me really hard. All throughout high school, he basically made me think that I was terrible at tennis, so I worked so hard, which I’m really thankful for now, but I was a little scared of my coach,” Rauck said. “My coach here has been amazing; she’s the sweetest person. She’s like my mom away from home, just so encouraging all the time and never yells or gets mad, which I think is so nice.”

After not playing much her freshman year, Rauck teamed with Kate Klein to earn a doubles berth in the 2012 NCAA Division III Individual Championships. With only 16 teams in the country making it to the championships, Rauck was surprised when she found out that her team had earned a bid.  

“Slowly throughout freshman and sophomore year, I got to play first doubles, so working through that has been really exciting for me…Going to that tournament was probably my favorite memory because my doubles partner was a year above me and we had just started playing together and we had no idea that we had the potential to go to the national tournament for doubles; we were just playing our game,” Rauck said.  

According to Stahlhuth, Rauck has been a delight to coach these past four years because of her unselfish and amiable personality.

“Corinne [Rauck] has a great heart; she’s a great team member, she wants what’s best for the team and she’s always smiling. She’s been a joy, complete joy,” Stahlhuth said. “I’m going to pretend that she’s not graduating.”

As for this season, the Red and Green have their sights set on returning to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

“I think we are just doing really well this year; our team is so cohesive and everyone’s working really hard, so I hope it all works out,” Rauck said.