Playing collegiate tennis has been one of a few dreams in senior Emily Butler’s life.

“I just love the game and the sport in general. It doesn’t matter if I’m winning or losing I just like to be out on the court and playing tennis,” Butler said. “It always brings a smile to my face.”

Butler has been a stalwart presence on the Hamline women’s tennis team for the last four years, ever since she was recruited out of Arizona by head coach Jon Henning.

“She is from Arizona and in the sport of tennis, it’s probably not the first idea to leave Arizona and come to Minnesota to play tennis,” Henning said. “She was used to playing tennis outdoors twelve months out of the year, and then you come here and it’s very different.”

Butler was already going to take a look at St. Mary’s when she got a letter from Henning that appealed to what she was looking for.

“I was focusing on where I had families in areas,” Butler said. “Then I got a letter from Coach and I found out that Hamline was more in the cities so I decided to come and visit and just really liked it.”

A lot has been asked of Butler since she came to Hamline four years ago.

“She came in as a freshman and played number four singles and she was solid and had some opportunities to get some wins,” Henning said. “Right away the next year she played number one singles and she has played one singles the last couple years, though this year’s she’s played number two singles.”

As one of three women’s players about to play their final match with the tennis team, Butler has been one of two captains, junior Maggie Gibson being the other, on the team this year and taken on the responsibility that goes with that.

“We do a lot of planning, team leadership and lots of responsibility,” Gibson said. “It’s how we show we’re better than what’s expected of us, doing things on campus, getting our team scheduled around the city to play with each other, that sort of thing.”

Butler’s teammates are very complimentary of her both on and off the tennis court.

“Just getting to know her as a person is a great experience,” junior Jordan Danielson said. “She’s a great individual off-the-court. On the court, I loved playing doubles with her and that was a good experience.”

Danielson was also complimentary of Butler’s leadership abilities.

“She’s kind of laid back but she’s not afraid to state her opinion at the same time,” Danielson said. “She might lead a little more subtlely than Maggie does, but Emily and Maggie play off each other and they have really good ideas on how to improve the team.”

Danielson and her teammates will look to take advantage of the help that Butler has given them over her four years here.

“Emily has the future of the team on her mind even though she’s not going to be here next year,” Danielson said. “Her ideas and collaboration with Coach benefit the team in future seasons.”

Henning echoed those sentiments about Butler’s leadership around the team and on campus.

“She wants to win. She’s small in stature and very quiet but don’t let that fool you,” Henning said. “She’s fierce, she’s competitive, she’s been committed to our program and helped to turn our program around to the point where we should be competing for the playoffs in the next year or two.”

The final match of Butler’s career here at Hamline will be taking place tomorrow, but she isn’t done being a leader. In fact, her career is just beginning.

“She wants to teach so she’ll be student teaching and I can only assume coaching in the future as well,” said Henning.

Butler will look back at her time here at Hamline fondly.

“It’s been pretty positive and it’s been awesome to be a collegiate athlete,” said Butler.

Henning had one last thing to say about his senior captain.

“The reason our program is looking up is because of her commitment so we want to thank her and wish her luck in her future endeavours.”

The final match of the women’s tennis season takes place tomorrow, April 28 at Macalester, with the match beginning at 5 p.m.