MISHAWAKA – It took less than 80 minutes, including warmups, for South Bend Saint Joseph girls tennis to beat Glenn 5-0 and win its 18th IHSAA sectional championship in a row on May 21.
While No. 1 singles junior Libby Yergler was first off the court after winning her match 2-0 (6-0, 6-0), sophomore Coco Burfien didn’t follow too far behind at No. 2 singles with the same score. Now at 16-3 this season and fully capable of being the No. 1 in almost any other program in the area, Burfien still didn’t take Thursday lightly.
“It’s a big day for us,” she said. “We have to be grateful for what we do, and we can’t expect to win. We still have to fight for everything we do … Every match matters.”
When she isn’t playing for the Huskies, Burfien fills the rest of her tennis calendar competing with United States Tennis Association (USTA) Midwest across the country. In fact, she said her favorite place she has traveled to for a tournament is Puerto Rico.
Head coach Bill Mountford has led Saint Joseph to two state championships and five semi-state titles, and even still, Burfien made an immediate impression on him as a freshman last season.
“She’s very serious about her tennis,” Mountford said. “You can never take a sectional title for granted … I would like to think that we have built a culture of success; an expectation that we’re going to come out here and we’re going to come at you hard and we’re going to try to win.”
Burfien’s mindset on the court was first developed in her home country. Wait, what?
Although Burfien has lived in Indiana for six years and was born in North Carolina, her parents are from Germany, where they lived for 10 years before the family moved to the Hoosier State in early 2020 after Burfien’s father, Joerg, was named the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hoosier Racing Tires.
Growing up in Germany, Burfien said she played tennis on clay courts in the summers and carpet in the winters. The dramatic difference in speed made it much easier to adjust to mostly hard outdoor courts after moving to Indiana.
Although Burfien started learning English when she was in third grade, she wasn’t fluent by the time her family moved back to the United States ahead of her fifth-grade year. Now speaking English without any hint of an accent, Burfien said simply being at school and around her friends every day helped her become fluent quickly.
The same has been true of how Burfien has handled the expectations that come with being the No. 2 singles player at a young age for a perennially great tennis program like Saint Joseph.
“We’re very close with each other; it’s like a second family to me at this point,” Burfien said. “I feel like audiences have a lot of impact on tennis players, and we support each other. That helps with a lot of nervousness you get on the court.”
She could get away with it against most opponents, but Burfien said she chooses not to talk trash in German. After all, tennis is a more courteous sport than most.
The soft-spoken Burfien will help the Huskies try to complete the first step in their quest for their sixth straight IHSAA regional championship in a semifinal match against an opponent yet to be decided Tuesday, May 26, at La Porte High School.
“Coco’s job is to try to push other players around here and make them better,” Mountford said. “She’s had a lot of exposure to a lot of high-level tennis … I don’t have to get after her to practice hard, to work hard. What I learned early as a freshman is that she’s a tough competitor.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Coco Burfien standing out for sectional champion Saint Joseph girls tennis
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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