After arriving in town for her freshman year of college in mid-August, Cleveland State women’s tennis player Laura Tapia tried her best to get settled in quickly. That can be a weighty transition for any 18-year-old, though Tapia, a Los Realejos, Spain native, had the extra challenge of acclimating to a new country and culture before her first day of classes.
What better way to interrupt the stress, she reasoned, than with a three-hour drive up I-90 to see Niagara Falls on an available Saturday? Natural marvels always have a certain ability to deliver inner peace or, if the opposite is desired, there are always the myriad attractions in the surrounding towns. If nothing else, Tapia would be able to quickly check off a box on the “things you have to see in the United States” list.
Some 125 miles southwest of Tapia’s apartment, one of her new teammates, senior Ella Franz, was preparing for one of her regular trips to Cleveland from her home in Columbus.
Franz was headed back a bit earlier than a typical in-state student, thanks to her frequent volunteer duties with Advantage Cleveland, an organization that provides tennis and learning opportunities to children in urban areas. While Tapia was taking in the panoramic view from Skylon Tower, Franz would be using her natural leadership and communication abilities to mentor her young pupils.
However, on August 15th, the evening before those well-laid plans, both women received a phone call from Vikings head coach Frank Polito that instantly scrambled them.
“I could see that Coach was calling, and I thought it was weird,” Franz recalled. “So I answered the call, and he asked where I was, and when I was getting back to Cleveland. I said that I was going to be coming back that night, and he asked if I could play doubles. And I said ‘what do you mean?'”
What Polito meant was equal parts stunning and thrilling. Franz and Tapia had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in the doubles tournament at Tennis in the Land, a WTA event that has transformed the west bank of Cleveland’s Flats area into a weeklong tennis village during each of the last five years.
Both quickly accepted, then restructured their schedules around an August 17th professional debut.
“I couldn’t believe that I arrived from Spain like three days ago, and I now I was playing doubles in this tournament!” Tapia exclaimed. “I was really excited, but it was also a lot during my first few days in the country.”
Had Tapia made it to Niagara Falls, she would have seen roughly 750,000 combined gallons of water flow over the American and Horseshoe Falls each second, accelerating up to 68 miles per hour by the time they meet the lower portion of the Niagara River.
As fast as that is, the speed with which the Tennis in the Land engagement came together far surpassed anything Earth’s gravity can accomplish.
On that fateful Friday, Polito received an urgent call from a friend, Alex Guthrie of Topnotch Management, the tournament’s organizer. Guthrie had an open line on his 16-team doubles bracket that he needed to fill.
“They were wanting to give it to a Cleveland person, and they already had a juniors player, so they thought it would be cool to get CSU players in the draw,” Polito explained.
There was a catch, however. Polito had exactly 30 minutes to produce a team, or Guthrie would be forced to move on to other options.
Franz, the Vikings’ vocal leader, and only returning upperclassman, was an obvious choice. It certainly didn’t hurt that during her three completed years at CSU, she had already been half of the most successful doubles unit in program history, alongside now-graduated Tereze Vevere. The duo ran up a record 66 total wins, including a 24-4 record last year. Including all partners, Franz has 70 doubles victories, and an excellent chance of grabbing that additional school record during her final season.
Polito filled out the hastily-assembled tandem with Tapia, a pick he made based on her high Universal Tennis Ranking (UTR). The UTR is an algorithmic index that, as the name suggests, attempts to present a standardized ranking of all registered players worldwide, based on match results.
After a frenzied, but successful, half hour, Polito was able to report back to Guthrie that Cleveland State would indeed be able to claim Tennis in the Land’s final wild card spot.
Of course, that was only the beginning of the chaos. The match was set to begin roughly a day and a half after it was finalized, which meant squeezing in the standard physicals and a whirlwind of forms.
There was also one other detail: not only had Franz and Tapia never played together before, they hadn’t even met until Franz made the hurried drive north in time for a practice session that Saturday, 18 hours or so after Polito’s call.
“We tried to get to know each other on the court,” Franz said. “This is a big moment you know, and you don’t expect this to happen, so hitting with each other helped get rid of some of that nervousness.”
It wasn’t an ideal situation, but the pair meshed as quickly as could be expected.
“Ella was so nice when I met her and very helpful in teaching me where to serve and what the signals are, and helping me get comfortable on the court in a very quick time,” Tapia recalled.
Even given the best of circumstances, the Vikings would have been heavy underdogs to their opponents, Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan. The Chinese players boast a combined 21 WTA doubles titles, and are presently ranked 44th and 57th in the world, respectively. Though the expected result played out on matchday – Xu and Yang would eventually reach the Tennis in the Land semifinals before losing – Franz and Tapia had the foresight to make the most of their experience.
For Franz, that was a multifaceted operation. She wanted to ensure that the Advantage Cleveland kids in attendance saw her demonstrate composure on the court, even in the face of long odds. Along the way, she also tried to help her rookie teammate settle in and stay positive, while reserving space to have fun and savor things.
“We were trying to soak in every moment of the experience, enjoy the opportunity,” Franz explained. “I said ‘let’s go have fun, let’s show them what we do at CSU and just enjoy it.'”
“I think if you are learning, the experience is always going to be a good one,” Tapia added.
In all likelihood, the team’s professional debut will also be its farewell, given that Franz, a biology major, plans to head to medical school after graduation. Tapia’s long-term plans involve a psychology degree and a possible career as a sports psychologist.
Nevertheless, a weekend of trading shots with a couple of world-class players, while enjoying professional treatment from the Tennis in the Land staff behind the scenes – not to mention extras like police escorts, player badges, and video board recognition – is the sort of memory that transcends those specifics.
“This was such a cool experience for Ella and Laura, and it’s a memory they will have forever no matter what else happens in their tennis careers,” Polito said. “They got to feel big time for a couple days, and learn what it was like to go through a day in the life of a pro player, from the practice courts, to the player services and everything in between.”
“It’s such a cool experience for them and every tennis player would love to have that experience.”
The hope from all corners is that the fleeting moments in the international spotlight will serve as a springboard for both Tapia and Franz as the 2025-26 Cleveland State season gets underway. The Vikings are the Horizon League’s defending regular season champion, though a conference tournament title, and the corresponding NCAA Tournament appearance, has proven elusive for the program. They’ll try to correct that record this year behind Franz, sophomores Melliz Petkova Mustafa and Jenna Redmile, and a five-player freshman class, including Tapia.
Might a full-time reunion of Franz and Tapia as a doubles pair be a part of the effort? The players are virtually opposites on just about every dimension, from birthplace to on-court demeanor, but contrasts can often produce legendary doubles teams, including Franz’s last partnership, with Vevere. The lineup is ultimately Polito’s call, though both players are open to the idea.
“[Ella] was always positive and always supporting me no matter what happened on the court,” Tapia said. “I would definitely like to play with her again, and I can learn so much from what she brings to the court.”
“I had such a fun time,” Franz added. “Laura is a very positive person and she composed herself really well on the court. If I was a freshman, I would have been losing my mind.”
At this point, the only certainty is that Tapia still has four years ahead of her to figure out that trip to Niagara Falls.
“I will have more chances to go to Niagara Falls,” she said, “but I had to take advantage of this opportunity.”
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