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Duquesne leader
Canfield graduate McGowan leaves with most wins
By john bassetti
CANFIELD
Now that tennis player Rachel McGowan has graduated from Duquesne, she has some job interviews lined up in Washington, D.C.
If the 2006 Canfield High graduate happens to be neck-and-neck with another candidate, it should be obvious to the employer that the other finalist is no match for McGowan.
That’s what 147 singles and doubles opponents found out over a four-year period.
In April, McGowan left as Duquesne’s all-time wins leader in the school’s women’s tennis.
Her recently completed senior season accounted for 35 of those wins, primarily at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles.
The daughter of Richard and Melinda McGowan of Canfield, she was recently named first-team All Atlantic-10. She was second team last season.
McGowan, 22, earned 42 wins her freshman year, a season that started in the fall of 2006 and concluded in the spring of 2007.
“I didn’t know I had 42 until seeing my biography at the start of my sophomore year,” McGowan said of the delayed update.
The 42 wins her freshman year led the Atlantic-10. She went on to register 35 wins as a sophomore and again as a junior.
McGowan, who teamed with Renee Lesnett to win the Division I state doubles championship for Canfield in the fall of 2004, broke Duquesne’s previous all-time record when the Dukes played Pitt on March 23.
“It was nice to do it against Pitt because we’re rivals.”
The match was held at the Racquet Club in Monroeville, Pa., which is the home facility for both schools.
“We practice next to each other all season,” said McGowan, who said she didn’t know she needed two wins to break the school record of 138 when the Pitt match began.
“I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know how many I needed. Actually, I didn’t want to know. I focused on winning.”
Duquesne beat Pitt, 5-2, and McGowan won both of her matches (doubles and singles) to give her 139.
McGowan said she learned of the tie-breaking wins from Duquesne’s website.
“My dad had been keeping track, but he didn’t say anything to me before the match. I just went out and thought of it as just another match.
“Not until after did I find out that I broke it [138]. That was the last thing I needed to worry about. I’m glad I didn’t know, it would probably have made me too nervous.”
The previous record was held by Rebecca Poole, who graduated in 2009.
McGowan progressed from a No. 2 doubles and No. 4 singles player her freshman year to No. 1 doubles and Nos. 3-4 singles as a sophomore. She was No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles her final two seasons.
After the graduation of the doubles partner she had her first two years, McGowan teamed with another individual throughout her junior season. Her senior-season doubles partner was Samantha Noble of the United Kingdom.
In recalling a momentous match, McGowan pointed to Coastal Carolina on March 15.
“They were No. 66 in the nation among Division I teams when we beat them and Duquesne has never been ranked so it was a really big win.”
McGowan played No. 2 singles and won, beating an opponent who was ranked 120th in the country.
“It was really exciting to beat her,” McGowan said of the 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over Miki Bunea of Romania. Noble and McGowan also teamed to beat Bunea and her partner in No. 1 doubles.
“We were able to pull it out that day. It was a very long and challenging match, but it was quite exciting at the end.”
McGowan explained that having pre-conceived notions about players is sometimes detrimental.
“Coastal was outside our circle of schools, so we didn’t know anything about the girls. Sometimes, it’s better to just go out and play someone new and try to figure them out instead of playing a familiar opponent, whose tendencies you anticipate.”
One of McGowan’s few winless matches was at West Virginia on April 8, a match the Mountaineers won, 6-1.
“We were missing some girls and I hurt my [right] elbow so I wasn’t at the top of my game,” McGowan said of the scenario for WVU in Morgantown.
“Plus, I was saving my arm for the conference championships,” she said of the Atlantic 10 event in St. Louis on April 23-24.
She also played with pain when Duquesne had back-to-back matches in Philadelphia against Temple and Villanova.
Although McGowan went 3-1 that weekend, her arm was tired.
“I guess that’s what happens after four years of college tennis. I’ve played since I was 5, so I think my body’s tired.”
McGowan didn’t alter her game until the last few years.
“In high school and even my first year at Duquesne, I always liked to hit the ball hard. I’d want to hit winners from the baseline. Over the years, my coaches tried to get me to come to the net quicker and finish off a match instead of staying at the baseline and letting an opponent stay in the point longer.
“Since, I’ve started coming into the net. It’s scary exposing yourself like that because an opponent could lob the ball over your head or hit a passing shot by you when you’re at the net. Once you get over that barrier, you can have more success in ending the point more quickly.”
Duquesne ended 9-12 and was tied for 7th in the A-10 championships.
McGowan, a political science major and English minor who graduated cum laude, is taking time off from tennis before she delves into policy research for some law firm or governmental agency.
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