From a young age, Julia Fliegner was involved in sports. She figure skated, played tennis, and played field hockey. She also excelled in art. It wasn’t until about age 13 that she started to solely focus on tennis. She was in the middle of the pack at the 12 and 13 rankings but in one year went from losing early in sectionals to beating Top Ten players in national tournaments. “Julia went from a decent sectional player to a top recruit in a year and a half,” says Jessica Stencel, her DCD coach as well as her personal coach.
Julia came from a sport family. Her older brother Max played for Dartmouth College which gave little sister a sense of what it would take to compete for a Division 1 university. “Watching Max play his college matches gave me the drive I needed to practice hard every day in order to achieve my collegiate goal,” she says. “I wanted that feeling of being a part of an elite program and my teammates supporting and cheering me on every match.”
By the time she was 15, Julia was traveling all around the country to tournaments with the lady who would be her high school coach. “She loved competing,” says Jessica. “In fact being a fierce competitor was Julia’s biggest strength. Some days she didn’t have her best tennis, but her fight won her the match.” And fight she did. Julia was Midwest Junior Champion three times, once in the 16s and twice in the 18s.
One criterion that the MHSTeCA board prizes in selected Miss Tennis is that she must be a team player, not a singular prima donna. “Being a fighter allowed Julia to transition from the individual side of tennis to the team atmosphere of high school and college tennis,” says Jessica. “She would do anything to help her team and the girls gave her a reason to show up and fight for every match.”
Despite playing only two years for DCD (Read: Covid and recruiting), Julia excelled. She lost only once her freshman year and was undefeated her senior year (total record: 31-1). She recorded two individual state championships, helped her team win team titles both years she was on the team and proved that she was the best player regardless of division. She defeated 2021 Miss Tennis Kari Miller, D1 state champion Reese Miller, and current MSU player Tia Muskergee who was a D1 runner-up one year.
In terms of thie past spring, “the state title was not something our school was expecting this year being an underdog,” says Athletic Director Dan Luft. “Watching Julia train with her coach before practice, then help her team improve during practice was a factor.”
“I was so proud representing my high school at the state tournament as well as at all my individual tournaments,” says Julia. “Knowing they supported my tennis allowed me to excel both in the classroom and on the tennis court.” This from a young lady who maintained a 4.0 GPA at an academically challenging high school.
Julia is currently fulfilling a dream of competing for U of M where she finished this past individual fall season with an impressive 13-2 outcome. She is also currently ranked 99th in college tennis while playing on a team ranked 16th in the nation.