By Jeff Vorva

Timothy Christian graduate Samantha Drye took soccer and basketball seriously.

Those were the sports she spent a lot of time and energy working on, playing with various club and travel teams. The three-sport athlete also played tennis for the Trojans, and she called it “a side thing.”

But now, it’s her main thing.

Drye is heading to Asbury University to play tennis at the Division III school in Kentucky. She received college interest in the other sports, but tennis called her name. And some tennis coaches were calling her name, too.

“Tennis is more of a sport you can play for a long time,” Drye said. “When tennis coaches reached out to me, I was thinking, ‘Oh, this is something I can do in college,’ and it just kind of worked out. It was awesome.”

Asbury is outside of Lexington, and she said she knew some family and friends who have gone there over the years.

“I did some camps there, I toured there, and I love the school – it’s beautiful,” she said. “I reached out to their tennis coach. That worked out, too.”

Her senior year at Timothy Christian was huge. Not only did she qualify for the Illinois High School Association Class 1A state meet with Laura LaBardi in doubles in the fall, but she and the Trojans, coached by her father, Nate, finished fourth in the state in Class 1A this spring.

As a matter-of-fact, her dramatic goal with 12 seconds left in the second overtime was the difference in a 1-0 win over University High in Chicago in supersectional play that helped the Trojans make it to state.

“Tennis is more of a sport
you can play for a long time.”
– Samantha Drye

At first, tennis was a spectator sport for Drye.

“I was really young, and we would play as a family,” she said. “We would go on family vacations, and my grandma, grandpa, aunts, and uncles would play. Every morning, the kids would be out doing whatever, and the aunts and uncles would play tennis. I think that’s where it started. It was something really fun that my family would enjoy doing.”

As she got older, she started playing with the family members.

Now, she is hooked.

“I like the fact that it’s just me or just me and my partner,” Drye said. “But you still get to be with people, and you get to practice. It was something that I didn’t play all of the time, and when I really started getting into it, I found it way more enjoyable.”