February 29, 2024 | SPORTS | By Veronica Bianco
Kala Komanduri ‘27 comes from a tennis-loving family. While her parents didn’t play in college, they passed down their affinity for the sport to Komanduri when she was young. “My parents have always loved it, always just playing for fun, or watching it,” she says.
Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Komanduri started playing when she was four-years-old. From then on, she’s lived life with a racket in hand. “Tennis was how I was growing up,” she says.
Komanduri rose through the ranks of junior and academy tennis, becoming increasingly serious about the sport as she progressed.
She credits the game for teaching her lessons and skills that spur her on to this day, like handling emotions and overcoming life’s challenges. It taught her how to dig herself out of situations that weren’t going her way, both in and out of the sport.
When such a situation arises in a tennis match, Komanduri said she tells herself to take it one point at a time. And that’s exactly what she did against Teleya Blunt of Whitman College on Feb. 17. Komanduri lost the first set and won the second before finding herself down 2-4 in the final set.
“I was like, Kala, okay, you have nothing to lose,” she says. She didn’t lose another game after that, cruising to a 6-4 win in that final set and sealing an emphatic victory. The win was her third out of three weekend matches, earning her Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Singles Player of the Week honors.
Playing tennis for CC’s team is teaching Komanduri more about what it means to be a teammate. The individual nature of tennis means that learning to be a team member often comes second to learning how to win individually. She seems nothing but excited for upcoming team bonding experiences on and off the court. “I’m looking forward to being with the team more,” Komanduri says.
Collegiate tennis has also taught Komanduri to deal with the immense pressure the sport brings. She says this fact is made easier by her team’s supportive nature and dedication to win. The group is looking to finish second in the SCAC this year, a jump in the standings from what Komanduri characterizes as their more-typical third place finish. “We want to beat Southwestern this year,” she says.
CC has finished as the third- or fourth-best team in the SCAC for the last three years.
“We’re starting to get a lot better, and I’m excited to see how we develop as a team and individuals,” Komanduri says.
Be on the lookout for this fiery tennis squad as Komanduri and the women’s team will face Midland University at home on Saturday, March 9.