WSN: Welcome back to ‘In The Huddle,’ a podcast by the Washington Square News. I’m Sherry Chen, deputy sports editor at WSN, and here with me today is Cooper Kline, senior captain on the men’s tennis team. He’s currently playing in the sixth singles slot on the team. Thank you for joining me, Cooper.

Kline: Thank you so much for having me, Sherry. Happy to talk to you again.

WSN: And this is your second as well as your last year on the team, and you previously played at Carleton College, so I was just wondering how the experience has been like at NYU?

Kline: It’s been awesome transferring to NYU. I think being an athlete at NYU made the transfer a lot easier. You get a friend group off the bat, you get people to connect with, and also, this year, so many new students are on our team that it almost makes me feel like I’ve been around for a while, even though I only played on the team a semester before the rest of the guys got there. So, but as far as transferring, it’s a whole new tennis atmosphere with traveling and with the teams we play and the environments we play in, but super enjoyable, and I’ve loved it so far.

WSN: For sure. And I was also just kind of wondering what drove you to join the Violets as well as compete on the team?

Kline: Tennis was always a huge part of my life as long as I could remember. So when I figured out I was going to be transferring, I didn’t think there was much option other than to play tennis here. It was somewhere I looked at coming out of high school, but I ended up playing in the Midwest for two years — loved that experience, but I also think diversity of experience in college and in life is super important. So I thought I would come to New York and try something super different from Minnesota, where I was at before.

WSN: And this is also your first year as the captain of the team, so I was just kind of wondering how that experience has been like for you, and if there were any road bumps along the way?

Kline: For sure. I mean, it’s been an honor, 100%. I love the kids that I’m captaining, and it’s not my first time as a captain of a team, but it’s my first time in this setting. Being a captain of an NYU team is something so different to what I’ve done in the past. A big part of it is finding times to spend with my players, which is a little different when you’re not on a campus with them every day. So whether that’s going on runs on the weekends or finding times to get meals and whatever may be during the week, I just have to get creative with getting to know my players better, making sure they all know me well and know they can count on me, and honestly, making sure I can count on them. It’s a good thing to have that go both ways, because I certainly — you know, it’s only my second year at NYU — so it’s good to know I can lean on them as well, that it’s not just me doing it alone, but it’s been great, and I love being captain of these guys.

WSN: Amazing, and you guys also recently played your Senior Day matchup against Salisbury University on April 12, and then you guys swept them 7-0. I believe it was also your eighth-straight win, matchup-wise, and then you also won your match 6-1, 6-1, so congratulations.

Kline: Thank you.

WSN: But I was just wondering, other than yourself, the team also has another two seniors, Ryan Lyn and Shido Ito, and then you guys also have graduate student Niklas von Hellens. So I was just sort of wondering what the team did to celebrate Senior Day, as well as the win.

Kline: It was such a nice day. We were coming off a win the day before against the team that beat us in the fall. So I think that was a big weight off our shoulders to see how far we’d come, and then to go into Senior Day against a team we felt we should win against. But you know, you always have to play and see how it goes. So getting that win in that fashion was huge for us. And as far as celebrating the seniors themselves, we had a little ceremony before the match started, in which NYU — the alumni office, I believe — sent out plaques for us with a photo of us playing and a nice statement, as well as some flowers, which was super nice for us. We had a couple friends come watch the match. My parents actually came out at the time from LA to come watch me play and meet the team a little more, so that was super nice. Just a great day, honestly, it was really cool.

WSN: The team, I believe, has finished all regular season play, and you guys currently have an overall record of 9-4. So, with only, I guess, the UAA Championships coming up later this week, as well as the NCAA Division III Championships over the summer, what are you sort of looking forward to in the rest of the season, and sort of your hopes for the remainder of your senior year?

Kline: Well, it’s all starting to feel super real. This college tennis thing coming to an end, and this college thing coming to an end as well, is crazy. But I’m just looking forward to the next day, every day, just looking forward to spending more time with the guys. It feels like there’s so little time left that it’s crazy. But the main thing I look forward to is those little moments: joking around in practice, or those moments in the middle of competing, where we’re all — it feels like dying out there, but having the best time. There’s already been so much for the guys to be proud of this year. And yeah, it’s just the little moments, and hopefully I can hold on to a couple more of those before the year ends.

WSN: Absolutely. Is there anything else that you wanted to add so far about your last year at NYU? 

Kline: It’s been a great year. I think I’ve felt a stronger part of the Violets community, especially the athletic one, this year — just getting to spend more time. Funny enough, I’ve spent a fair amount of time nursing injuries and doing what I can to get healthy, and I’ve been lucky enough to play through most of them, but I spend a lot of the days in Paulson with a lot of other athletes from a lot of other teams also doing the same thing. And I feel lucky this year to know, though it’s come through injury, to know a lot more of the NYU athletes. And that’s been a special thing, seeing that connection, kind of seeing that even without a campus we have a strong athlete community still, that’s been cool. And then, the only other thing is there’s so much to be grateful for. Coming out of last year, we had arguably the most talented team NYU had seen ever last year with All-Americans, and we unfortunately lost so many guys. Coming into this year, last year we tied the recent all-time national ranking record and wins record, or, well, we set it last year and this year with a fully new lineup. For the most part, I’m just proud of the guys, because they found a way to come together form a team out of so many new faces, so many young guys and a couple new additions as the season rolled on, and tie those records we set last year, hopefully setting a precedent to keep this high performance level going for NYU tennis and grow from here. So I’m glad that our guys were able to scrape through in these matches and get it done to let us be where we are now. Super thankful with how it’s all gone.

WSN: Absolutely, thank you so much for joining me, and good luck in the postseason.

Kline: Thank you so much, thank you for having me. I always appreciate it.

Contact Sherry Chen at [email protected].