It’s been a tiring and thrilling road for LSU tennis player Olivia Howlett.
The junior wasn’t eligible for Divison I tennis until January because she was caught up in NCAA rule violations. Howlett graduated from Crispin Secondary School in Somerset, England, when she was 16 years old before spending two years traveling and playing in tournaments abroad.
The NCAA only allows a one-year grace period after high school for tennis players to compete in organized competition before they have to enroll in college.
As a result, Howlett enrolled at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla., in 2008, where she spent two years on the tennis team and was largely unchallenged. She won the NJCAA singles national championship in 2010 and the doubles title in the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships.
But now the England native is on a different stage — the Southeastern Conference tennis courts — and it’s been a tough adjustment.
Howlett is 3-3 in doubles play and 1-5 in singles since her first LSU match March 25 against Georgia.
“The standard wasn’t high at all in junior college,” Howlett said. “There I knew I was going out to win. Here it’s not just going to be handed to you on a plate.”
LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis said he knew it would be difficult for Howlett to be thrown into the fire near the end of the season, but he decided to give her a chance in March. The Lady Tigers have just one more regular season match Saturday at Arkansas before the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
“When I watched her hit, I was so impressed with her because she’s so solid,” Minnis said. “I didn’t realize she would be ineligible. The rule she falls under is a rule that really wasn’t meant for her. We used to have a problem with older foreign kids who would delay their high school graduation until they were 20 or 21 and then come to college, so a rule was incorporated to stop that.”
Howlett said she first picked up a tennis racket when she was 10 years old with her father, Paul, who is an avid golfer.
Paul said in a phone interview from England that Olivia had a knack for tennis early on.
“She really hadn’t hit a ball until we took her to the local tennis club,” he said. “We wanted to get her grounded in sport and in life.”
Paul and his wife, Susan, had never been to the U.S. before they visited Olivia in Orlando after she started at Hillsborough.
Paul said disparities between England and the U.S. were evident when they arrived in Florida.
“The biggest difference was the highways, which you don’t see here at all,” he said.
Olivia said one thing she loves about LSU’s campus besides her new teammates is how compact it is.
“I don’t have a car, so I like how I can just walk everywhere,” she said. “I don’t think my parents will come to Baton Rouge, though. There’s not much to see.”
Howlett has played all her singles matches at the No. 2 position, and her first win came April 1 against Auburn’s Caroline Thornton, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Howlett started playing doubles with junior Whitney Wolf at the No. 1 slot and is now on a two-match winning streak with freshman Ariel Morton on courts 2 and 3.
Olivia’s father said eliminating self-doubt is key to success at LSU.
“She was perhaps a level above most of the girls she came across at Hillsborough,” Paul said. “With LSU she can’t make up her mind too early that [her opponent] might be better.”
Off the court, Morton said Olivia practically lives at West
Campus Apartments with her. She said they mesh as more than just a doubles team even though Olivia is still relatively new.
“We both don’t have cars, so we’ve made some adventures to Walmart together,” Morton said. “She’s funny and confident. … She’s already one of my best friends.”
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Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]