Tennis season cut short for Catrina Liner

Ever since the 3rd grade, Catrina Liner has been playing tennis and loving it. With the support of her parents, she had a deeper meaning for the sport and thrived in it for so long. Coming from Oregon, Liner had a specific interest for Chaminade that caught her eye.

The determination for the sport has guided her from Oregon to Chaminade University in Hawaii.

Liner is a junior at Chaminade with a major in Cell and Molecular Biology. When she is not doing school work, she is always improving her tennis game whether it be at school or a pick up game in town with friends.

Liner grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, the homeland of Oregon State University. Although the university is right in Liner’s back yard, going to school on a campus with 29,000 students was not what she was looking for. What she was looking for was small-sized classrooms so that she can focus more and communicate with the professors more. Another thing that she was looking for tennis-wise was for a small and close tennis team that she can connect with both on and off the court.  

“Chaminade was the perfect choice when considering the type of school I wanted to attend,” Liner said. “Once arriving and meeting the team, I realized that my decision to play at Chaminade was exactly what I wanted and needed.”

Like many athletes, we all have that one inspiration that helps us to push for the best in us. Liner’s inspiration is Naomi Osaka, a professional women’s tennis player coming from Japan.

“Her personality is similar to mine, where we are both shy and quiet,” she said. “She was the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam as well. Overall she is humble yet powerful and I strive to be like that.”

In the fall semester 2018, Liner started as the No. 1 seed at Chaminade in singles and doubles. Even though she went 0-6 in both singles and doubles, her intentions were to play the mental game instead.

“Unlike many tennis players I keep my emotions to myself,” Liner said. “There is no yelling, shouting or any aggressive actions like hitting the wall, the ground or my body. Similarly when I am happy or excited, these emotions are processed internally rather than externally as we see with most tennis players. I believe this sets me apart from much of the competition that I have come across.”

Liner enjoys playing tennis for Chaminade, but her junior season was cut short due to coronavirus. Even though this pandemic cut the Lady Sword’s season short, Liner hasn’t stopped her mentality to keep playing tennis not only for Chaminade, but for herself as well. 

“Since all courts have been shut down in Honolulu and Oregon,” Liner said. “I haven’t had the chance to work on my game for quite some time now like the rest of the tennis community. All of us are dying to get back on the courts, and I hope this will be soon.”