Alumna Relives Career on International Stage
Written By: Stan Becton
At the Division III level of NCAA athletics, it's rare for an athlete to advance to play professionally. It can be even rarer to see an athlete advance to play on the international stage. Yet, women's tennis player and Carnegie Mellon University 2018 graduate Katie Lai was able to do both through her play in the 2020 Fed Cup, commonly referred to as 'The World Cup of Tennis' in February.
Lai played for the Guam national team in the tournament. She was one of four women who were selected to represent the island.
"This was the first time in Guam history a team competed in the Fed Cup, so getting the chance to represent Guam at the top of its development pyramid was such an honor," said Lai.
For Lai, this wasn't her first chance to represent Guam on the international stage. She competed on the junior level internationally during her time growing up in the country.
In the present, Lai is a full-time consultant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Accenture, a Fortune 500 company. With a demanding job that often requires travel, tennis can fall by the wayside.
"After graduating, I took a long time off from playing tennis, only hitting a little here and there," said Lai. "It wasn't until about three months before the Fed Cup that I started to actually play with a purpose."
Despite her time off from tennis, Lai was able to draw on her experience from Carnegie Mellon to help her return to the sport.
"I found myself almost on autopilot mode. I remembered the dynamic warmups we would always do before practices and matches and even the strength and conditioning workouts we would do in the offseason," said Lai. "With such a strong foundation instilled throughout my four years on the team, it made my little 'comeback' pretty seamless in terms of getting back on a training regimen."
Lai's comeback to the sport and debut for her country led to a 3-0 victory over Mongolia in a group play playoff. Lai won both her singles and doubles matches in the win making the most of a memorable opportunity. Guam finished third in its pool but made an impressive debut in the tournament.
"I look back at my time on the Carnegie Mellon women's tennis team with such fond memories, getting the chance to relive some of those days, even just for a bit through the Fed Cup, was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," said Lai.
Lai was a member of three NCAA tournament teams for the Tartans and recorded 83 combined victories as a singles and doubles player. The win tally puts Lai 20th all-time in combined victories for the women's tennis program. Lai was also named the women's tennis Tartan Award winner at the annual department banquet.
"Katie's perseverance and determination was a key to her success at CMU," said head coach Andrew Girard. "She went from being someone who was rarely in the lineup her first year to one of our most clutch and consistent performers by the end of her career. One of my favorite moments of hers was in spring of 2017 versus Amherst. She stepped up in a monster pressure-filled moment to clinch what I believe was our first-ever program team win over them."