Iowa State has been a home away from home for ISU tennis player Eve Soriano.

The redshirt junior has moved constantly because her father is in the Coast Guard.

Soriano lived in Florida when she came to Iowa State, and her parents, who now reside in Alaska, are soon planning to move to Oklahoma City.

“That will be better when they move,” Soriano said. “I can drive home and they can drive up and see me play. They’ve only seen one or two matches in college. They can’t travel around like everyone else’s parents from the Midwest.”

Soriano has been playing tennis since she was 9 years old, and her parents took her to tournaments during her childhood.

The mix of confidence and exuberance of Soriano’s presence would give anyone the impression that there is never a moment that something bad happens to her. But things haven’t always been going great for Soriano.

Soriano twisted her knee and broke her ankle in an accidental fall in her apartment in 2005. But even then her thoughts were focused on the team.

“That was a big downfall,” Soriano said. “It was hard for the team to take – we were a small team and we needed each person. But in recovery, you put in the hours of physical therapy and get back up. I knew I would come back. I was just more devastated that I couldn’t play that year.”

Soriano said if last year’s team had had the depth of this year’s team, the situation would have been a little easier to handle. Last year, the team had to ask women to walk onto the team.

Sophomore Caitlin Loprinzi recalls the situation from last season.

“There was one match [in which] we didn’t even have six people,” Loprinzi said. This was a major problem, since each team needs a minimum of six players or is forced to forfeit matches.

But even after a season like that, Soriano can’t imagine playing anywhere else with another group of women.

“I like it a lot here,” Soriano said. “Iowa has been the place that I’ve spent the most time. I love the people up here, everybody that I’ve met – especially my teammates – and I know I’m going to keep in touch with them many years after this.”

Loprinzi shares those sentiments.

“Having her back this season is huge,” Loprinzi said. “You know, she’s part of this close-knit group, too.”

Watching one of Soriano’s matches, some fans would comment about the powerful groundstrokes that are the strength of her game.

“That’s always been my strong point,” Soriano said. “I used to practice with guys. I move my opponents around a lot. I just don’t hit it hard down the middle, so when people face me, they know they are going to run a lot.”

Soriano says that having a whole season of sitting on the sidelines has helped her micromanage things in her game, like her composure, for instance.

“I really like getting into matches and getting pumped up,” Soriano said. “But eventually, it can wear you down mentally, so I try to balance it – you do the fist pumps when you get a point, and you relax when you don’t. It’s one point, and you can get it back pretty easily.

“I could have just finished school instead of working hard and coming back. It gives me a different outlook because I am here and I am playing. Of course I’ll be pissed if I lose this match or that match, but at the end of the day I am playing Big 12, Division I tennis, and that makes me happy.”

Soriano said the cohesiveness of the team has made it stronger.

“We’re a close-knit group, and that really helps us as a team,” Soriano said. “When we go to other teams, and they have eight girls who are all foreigners, and you can tell that they don’t get along. I wouldn’t want that any day of the week.

“I think all of us care about each other and I think that says a lot about our team and who we are as people.”