North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Brock Hopes to Add To Trophy Collection
1/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. When the No. 36 NC State women’s tennis team opens its season today with a home match against Elon at 5 p.m. at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, it hopes to put itself in position to win championships.
But for one member of the team, junior Berkeley Brock, there are already two national championship trophies on the mantle at home. She won them playing in the USTA’s Father-Daughter Doubles tournaments in 2005 and 2008.
The Nashville, Tenn., native paired up with her father, Adam, to win the Father-Daughter Clay Court Championship in Jupiter, Fla., in 2005. Last summer, they went to San Diego for the Hard Court Championship. Both times, they won every match with straight-set victories.
“It’s always a lot of fun playing together,” Brock said, noting that those are the only times they have entered the tournaments.
Adam Brock played collegiately at Virginia, had a brief professional career and was a teaching pro in both Greensboro and Nashville before entering private business. So he naturally started his twins, Berkeley and her brother Jennings, in the sport at a young age.
“It was great, because with my dad and my brother, I always had built-in practice partners,” Brock said.
Jennings gave up the sport before he got to high school to concentrate on academics. He’s now enrolled at Virginia, the school from which their parents both graduated.
But Berkeley continued with the sport, winning the 2004 Girls Southern Closed Championship and eight Tennessee doubles championships. She was named East Tennessee’s Player of the Year four straight years.
Even though she was recruited to play at Virginia, she opted to come to NC State after falling in love with the program on her official visit. Since her arrival, she has been a stellar contributor to the Wolfpack’s success, winning 26 matches while primarily playing in the 1 and 2 spots in the singles lineup.
In July, while attending a session of summer school, Brock also won an ITA Summer Circuit singles title at UNC Greensboro by winning five matches over collegiate competition.
She has also excelled in doubles play, winning 22 matches with partners Catherine Grotz as a freshman and Daria Petrovic as a sophomore.
This year, she will likely team with Lenka Hojckova, who was her partner in the fall. They compiled a 9-3 record in tournament play in the fall and enter the 2009 spring season ranked No. 2 in the Southeast region.
Whoever her partner is, it won’t be like playing on the same team as her dad.
“My dad plays like a guy,” Brock said. “He’s definitely serve-and-volley, chip-and-charge. Most girls don’t play like that. But I know what to expect.
“It’s never been difficult for me to change the way I think about my partner’s game.”
Brock has high expectations for the Wolfpack women this year, after last year’s 13-11 campaign and a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships. The team has only one senior, Neils Barringer, and a small, youthful roster, with five of the eight players on the team being freshmen and sophomores.
“We definitely have a lot of freshman talent,” Brock said. “We have been positive throughout preseason practice and that is a big part of being successful. We might have a small team this year, but that doesn’t change the way we think about going into the season.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
