By Martina Barrera-Hernandez

Meet the "Big Three" of Northwestern men's tennis: Strong Kirchheimer, Sam Shropshire and Konrad Zieba.

The three junior student-athletes are off to a tremendous start to the 2016 season, prompting an amazing start for the tennis program.

Kirchheimer, who hails from Cary, N.C., began the 2016 dual season ranked No. 55 in singles and No. 52 in doubles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). He is off to a 9-0 start in dual play at No. 3 singles, with seven of nine wins coming in straight sets.

Zieba, a Glenview, Ill. native, is 7-2 in the dual season, including 6-2 at No. 1 for the Wildcats and is currently ranked No. 8 in the country by the ITA.

Shropshire, a Philadelphian whose past achievements include two First-Team All-Big Ten selections, is currently ranked No. 73 in singles by the ITA. This season he won his first seven matches at No. 2 doubles with Zieba, and is 4-3 in singles at No. 2.

What is firing up these three juniors in their most successful season to date? Team spirit? Individual goals? Discipline? Friendly competition or a burning desire to show off to their teammates? It very well may be all of the above.

According to Kirchheimer, the trio trained and traveled to tournaments together over the summer in order to prepare for this season. It has obviously paid off.

"I think it's really easy to see the growth," says Kirchheimer. "It's really nice to see that—the growth in my game between now and last year is pretty big and so is everyone else's."

Head coach Arvid Swan cites the group's tremendous dedication as a source of strength this season, while building on previous seasons. Over the course of the last year, Swan has witnessed Shropshire's serve and forehand become a "really big weapon" on the court, in addition to improvements in Zieba's rally ball, forehand and serve which have become key to his success when facing tough opponents. With Kirchheimer, Swan says, his serve and ability to control play has been an asset to his game.

"I think a big part of [their improvement] is the amount of preparation the guys put in. Clearly a hard-working group," says Swan. "All three have developed a lot over the course of their college careers. Each guy has developed in different ways, but each has developed into an elite college player. They all play different styles, but they're each playing their style very effectively."

Not only have the players seen growth in their physical and technical abilities but also in their mindsets. Kirchheimer, for example, notes he is better able to "refocus" in challenging situations. His freshman year in a match against Harvard, Kirchheimer says he was unable to regain control when hitting a rough patch. Faced with a similar situation this year against Vanderbilt on Feb. 21, he was able to pull from previous experience and overcome.

"It was interesting mentally for me because I had been in that situation before and probably shouldn't have been there, but I was able to refocus myself going into the third set and really take control of everything that was going on," says Kirchheimer.

Similarly, Zieba points to lessons learned during his freshman year as a Wildcat to explain his drive and success as a junior. His freshman year, Zieba faced a string of injuries, which rendered him unable to play. Once he began to play again, Zieba was disappointed in his performance. His frustration motivated him to push himself to work even harder and to excel.

"That was a learning experience for me because despite not doing that well, I set my mind to it and worked hard and eventually got better results and started playing well," says Zieba. "Not doing well and going through those injuries was definitely a learning experience for me."

In addition to the lessons learned as individuals, Kircheimer comments that as a team they often discuss the idea of "responding to adversity." Early this season, he says, the team faced a setback against then-No. 8 Illinois on Jan. 23 where they lost 4-0, but the team was able to respond to this challenge and bounce back with an eight-match winning streak. He believes that this mindset will allow the team to keep pushing forward.

"When you're faced with something difficult you don't want to react, you want to respond," says Kirchheimer.

Friendly competition also factors into the team's success, particularly among these three.

"It's great having guys who are really good—we're all pretty much at equal levels so the competition just makes us try even more to do the best that we can," says Zieba. "When you're not doing well and someone else is doing well you try to get to their level and maintain it. We all push each other really hard."

While the three teammates agree that a level of competition among them is certainly a motivation factor, at the core they are "best friends."

"It's a competitive relationship we have but at the end of the day we all really care about what happens to each other," says Kirchheimer. "If one of us is down, the other two will pick him up."

Instead of getting caught up in rankings and setting goals based on numbers, Kirchheimer emphasizes that he and his teammates really try to build off of each match, learning and growing along the way.

"We always talk about how rankings don't matter and try not to look at those," Kirchheimer says. "We take everything one match at a time and pull from what [we've been doing well] and really expand on what we've done. One day at a time; one match at a time."

Shropshire takes this mantra personally.

"This year I'm trying to build off of last year and freshman year and to keep personally upping my game and keep seeing improvements," says Shropshire. "You gotta take things as they come, step by step."

Regardless of their personal goals, the three agree that their main goal is to see the team win the Big Ten championship for the first time in 26 years. Despite their personal successes and lengthy winning streak as a team this season, the trio remains humble about the matches ahead. They will not be caught with their guard down.

"Obviously it's a really long season and we're not even halfway through," says Zieba. "But we're doing well and it's important to make sure we're continuing and doing the right things—practicing hard and having the right mindset every match. So I think that's one of the biggest challenges, but we can do it," he adds.

"The team culture is a hard-working culture and it's great when your top three players do everything right in practice and all understand the team and sacrifice for the team," says Swan. "We don't have egos from those three at all. When you're led by three guys who have a team-first approach and are as good as they are, you have a good situation."

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Big Three Leading Wildcats to New Heights

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Players Mentioned

Strong Kirchheimer

Sam Shropshire

Konrad Zieba

Northwestern University Athletics

Northwestern University Athletics

Big Three Leading Wildcats to New Heights

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