This spring, Rebecca Dirksen '00 made Dartmouth history.
By winning a dramatic match against her high school and junior circuit rival, Harvard's Vedica Jain, she became the Big Green's first woman to go undefeated in Ivy League play.
This title merely nailed the door shut on Dirksen's already guaranteed place in the Dartmouth athletic archives.
She has already been inducted as a member of the elite Silver Anniversary Team, which recognizes Ivy League female players and coaches of the past 25 years who made the All-Ivy list two or more times. So far, there are only ten members, and only two are tennis players.
Dirksen has earned all of this recognition by playing No. 1 singles, where there is no such thing as an easy match.
Playing at the top of the ladder requires not only tremendous athletic ability but also a competitive, determined attitude. Dirksen has plenty of both of these, having competed in tournaments since she was only seven years old.
Born and raised in Palo Alto, Dirksen is a veteran of the very tough Northern California tennis section. Her junior career was intense from the start. As a youngster, she was ranked as high as the Top 40 nationally.
Despite the big role that tennis has always played in her life, Dirksen has never had a problem balancing it with other activities.
"I was lucky to come from a family of student-athletes," she said. "My parents raised [her and her siblings] to be tough competitors but also tough students."
Her talented family includes an older sister who played tennis here, Jennifer Dirksen '94. It was through Jennifer's experience that Rebecca was introduced to the Dartmouth campus and eventually decided to come here.
Rarely does a tennis player begin playing at the top of the ladder in both singles and doubles her freshman year; even more rare, though, is for a player to make All-Ivy two years in a row in both singles and doubles.
Dirksen, however, would come to Dartmouth to establish herself as a history-making athlete. And if she makes All-Ivy in either singles or doubles again this year, and she almost certainly will, she will break yet another school record by becoming the first woman tennis player honored in such a way.
This season has certainly been the one that Dirksen has been aiming for all along.
In singles, her overall record was an unbelievable 22-6 vaulting her Eastern Tennis Association ranking to as high as number 13.
Dirksen's ranking should be even higher next year.
A powerful baseliner who takes the ball on the rise to diminish her opponent's reaction time, Dirksen has always excelled at singles.
However, her solid net performance and her huge return of serve make her a force in doubles as well, where she and her partner Allison Taff '00 achieved a national ranking of Number 43 in the fall.
Dirksen is an integral part of the team not only because of her position as Dartmouth's top point-scorer, but also because of her effect on the other players.
Coach Chris Kerr described her as "a role model... a joy to watch because she never gets down and always fights hard for every point. She is an inspiration to everybody on the team and to everybody who watches her."
Team co-captain and Dirksen's doubles partner Taff echoed this sentiment.
"[Her] enthusiasm and love for tennis has a very positive effect on everyone that plays and watches her," Taff said. "I think anyone that watches her play leaves very impressed because they can see her determination."
She still has the ability to balance her dedication to tennis with the other areas of her life.
Dirksen, who is a government major is also involved with the Big Brother/Big Sister program and is a sister at Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority.
As for her future, she is still undecided as to whether it will involve tennis or not.
"The great thing about tennis is that it opens so many doors to you," Dirksen said. "It's really something that expands horizons. I've met a lot of people and I'll go a lot of places with tennis."
This summer, those powerful groundstrokes will take her to France, where she will play satellite tournaments with a friend.
Her life philosophy is much like her tennis philosophy.
"I like to take one point at a time ... and try to keep the ups and downs in perspective. It's not just about winning; it's about how you win, and what happens along the way."
