Marginalia

Seen & Heard

Doubles team Higgins and Hu won back-to-back NCAA tennis titles in 2009 and 2010.

Photo by Jason Smith

KENDRA HIGGINS, ’12
Major: Human development/Latin American studies
Hometown: Vero Beach, FL

CHRISSY HU, AB’11
Major: Economics
Hometown: Palo Alto, CA

YOU’RE FROM WARM CLIMATES. HOW WAS YOUR FIRST WINTER HERE?

KENDRA HIGGINS: Dreadful. My mom thought it was fine for me to have a North Face fleece and not a down jacket.

WHAT WAS THE TENNIS TEAM LIKE?

CHRISSY HU: Completely different. When I came in, we were unranked. It was amazing that Kendra and I won at the NCAA—we went into the tournament unseeded.

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING IN CLASS THAT APPLIES TO TENNIS?

HU: You have to go out and perform, even if you haven’t had any sleep.

ANY RITUALS BEFORE MATCHES?

HIGGINS: We’re very superstitious.

HU: We have our lucky visors that we only take out for NCAA tournaments. She’s actually using my shock absorber that I lent her two years ago. I haven’t asked for it back because it’s been good luck.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR?

HIGGINS: Try to find another partner as good as Chrissy. My goal is to help lead the team to a national championship. And I’m taking spring quarter off to work on my honors BA paper.

HU: A job at J. P. Morgan in San Francisco. And I know I want to play tennis.

HIGGINS: We should play in a women’s league in the USTA. If you’re on a top-five team, they’ll fly you to Australia. Let’s do this!