The University of Aberdeen (Scotland) has one turf tennis court. During her study abroad there Kelsey Hassevoort and (then-boyfriend, now-husband) Alex Dombos ’12 found it and practiced as often as they could until the days grew so short the sun had set by the time classes dismissed.

“We both wanted to stay in shape for our upcoming tennis seasons,” Kelsey says. Darkness didn’t defeat her dedication. Practice moved to the local tennis center even though getting there required a 45-minute commute by foot and multiple buses. That determination explains, in part, Kelsey’s hall-of-fame tennis career.

She was twice named to the All-MIAA first team, and three times recognized as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete. She played number one singles her junior and senior seasons as well as number one doubles her senior season. She earned the MIAA Most Valuable Player award her final season, the same year she won the MIAA Karen Caine Scholar-Athlete Award and was named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District 6 At-Large Team and the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-American At-Large First Team.

Note the frequency of “academic” and “scholar” in the titles of all those athletic honors. Let’s talk about that. Kelsey made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll all four years. She majored in biology and took a full slate of pre-med courses at K. For her Senior Individualized Project she studied the functional connectivity of the human cerebellum, working in the Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory at the University of Michigan. She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), focusing her research on the relationships between physical activity, nutrition, and memory performance in children.

So, one might think that tennis and academics were the sole driving factors behind her decision to come to K. In fact, though, the most influential factor may have been the College’s commitment to the liberal arts and the accompanying opportunities for students to explore their interests in a variety of disciplines. One example that stands out to Kelsey: “I loved the ecology courses I took with Professor Binney Girdler, and while I didn’t end up pursuing ecology research as a career, the summer I spent doing field research with her and a team of fellow K students on Beaver Island was a formative experience that set the stage for my future research pursuits.”

“The liberal arts tradition,” she adds, “continues to inform my mindset and approach to my personal and professional endeavors. K taught me to be curious and flexible in applying my talents, and my experience as a student-athlete taught me the importance of balance and making time for physical activity. Connecting with others around fitness has become a real passion of mine.”

After four years working at the University of Illinois’s Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, Kelsey now serves as a managing director at the Washington, D.C.-based federal grants and government relations consulting firm, McAllister & Quinn. She provides capacity-building, strategic guidance, and grant consulting support services to research universities and other higher education institutions.

At K it’s uncommon that an athletic performance cancels some classes. There’s no stat for that. But if there was, then Branden Metzler just might be the only Hornet to have it.

His spring 2016 run to the Division III men’s tennis National Championship singles final electrified Kalamazoo College (yes, that year the championships took place at Stowe Stadium). As Branden advanced match by match, professors cancelled classes, students skipped them, crowds grew, the stadium brimmed, then seemed to overflow. Branden lost in the final match while never disappointing. Not so much your classical long-and-lean tennis body with phlegmatic disposition, Brandon’s more “body-by-linebacker” with a heavy measure of indomitable-will thrown in. For those few days, his fierceness lit up the campus.

“That run and the support I received from the K community is my fondest memory of college,” says Branden, “and is still one of my top memories in my life.”

He chose K “for its rich academic program and historic tennis team.” And then he promptly started to add to the College’s tennis legacy. Four times he made all-conference first team, and four times he was named the MIAA most valuable player. He claimed the national championship runner-up in 2016 and then the following year made it to the national championship semifinals. Thus, in his junior and senior seasons he finished in the top four of the country’s Division III singles players. He was an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete (as well as a MIAA Academic Honor Roll honoree), the ITA Central Region Player to Watch (2016), and the ITA Central Region Senior Player of the Year (2017).

Branden earned two majors at K, in chemistry and in economics. “My favorite teacher was Professor Stull,” he says. “His class inspired my Senior Individualized Project, which was about the tennis industry.” He also was a fixture in the athletic training room, “to the point I think that most of the trainers were sick of seeing my face.

“The lessons I learned at K on and off the court—particularly in the areas of time management skills and self-discipline—have helped me in my professional career,” he adds. “The professors were always willing to help. And the friends I met made my K experience invaluable.”

Branden works as a quality engineer for the aerospace company, Woodward INC. He continues to play tennis and gives private lessons to children and adults. For three years he coached tennis at Rockford (Ill.) Boylan High School, leading the Lady Titans to the sectional title in 2021, their first in 10 years.

How’s this for a curve: study abroad as three seasons of summer baseball in Kenosha (two) and Cape Cod (one). It’s a hell of a liberal arts pitch from the greatest Hornet pitcher of all time.

(One outcome: a somewhat baseball-related trivia question in the category of Kalamazoo College history—Question: What do the careers of Ryan Orr and K President Jorge Gonzalez have in common? Answer: Study abroad in Wisconsin.)

Ryan Orr liked the size of K’s campus, he liked the College’s high academic standards, and he chose K because of its “up-and-coming baseball program.” After which he did a great deal to increase the angle of that program’s rise. Ryan majored in business with a focus on marketing. His favorite teachers in the department were Professor Hultberg and Professor Wielopolski. The summer seasons composed “my version of study abroad,” Ryan says. And his Senior Individualized Project on Major League Baseball (why the best teams seldom win the World Series) is great “Fall Classic” reading.

His accomplishments on the ball field are unmatched. Ryan was the team’s pitcher of the year (four times) and Most Valuable Player (two times). In the conference he was MIAA Pitcher of the Week (five times), All-MIAA (four years), Conference MVP (once). He holds the conference record for most innings pitched in a career, and he was named All-Region and All-American. His Hornet baseball records include: most wins, innings pitched, complete games, shut-outs, no-hitters, and saves, as well as the lowest earned run average.

He also could hit (leading the team in batting average his senior season) and run (finishing second and third on the team in stolen bases his junior and senior seasons, respectively). His best baseball memory? “Our MIAA tournament win at Adrian in 2016,” he says.

After graduating from K Ryan played two seasons of professional baseball for the Frontier League River City Rascals. Today he works as a Territory Sales Manager for the fundraising company, Vertical Raise. He recently completed his first season as head baseball coach at Williamston High School. His team finished as conference co-champion and won a district title.

“At K I met my wife, Danielle Simon ’18” says Ryan, “and we were married last October. In addition to that, the most significant impact of K on my life has been its people—the great coaches, professors, mentors, and the lifelong friends I encountered there.”

One example: “I’ll always remember Professor Wielopolski writing each of her students a personalized thank-you card at the end of the term. She made clear how much she cared about us as people. Just like that quote, ‘Players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’ which is something I hope to pass on.”

Now there’s a baseball bender with a liberal arts arc—great teachers are great coaches, and vice versa. And pitchers are among the most liberal-arts-ish of athletes because success requires the ability to move the ball in multiple ways.

The odds mounted against a successful K campus visit for Colleen Orwin in October 2012. First, the day was a downpour. Second, K’s campus was just 10 minutes away from Colleen’s home, and the Portage Northern (and Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center) graduate did not see herself going to college in the state of Michigan, let alone the city of Kalamazoo. Third, the visit’s dinner occurred at a restaurant frequented by the Orwin family. No new fun there. Fourth, the television in the host’s dorm room was tuned to a series Colleen did not like. Zero-for-four. And yet, against those odds, Colleen chose Kalamazoo College.

“I could feel the swim team’s sense of family throughout my 24 hours on campus,” says Colleen. The computer science major (she also holds minors in mathematics and studio art) went on to become one of the Hornet swim team family’s most distinguished members ever. Perhaps such a future was foretold when she was named MIAA Swimming/Diving Athlete of the Week after her very first collegiate competition! And a first-year season shortened by a broken wrist could not do much to slow her amazing career in the pool.

Colleen set numerous school, conference, and MIAA pool records during her four seasons. She was all-conference all four seasons and earned All-American and Honorable Mention All-American honors in each of her final three seasons. She was invited to swim in the Division III national championships her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and three times she was named a Scholar All-American by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America. Her junior season she was the team’s MVP, and she was named the MIAA Most Valuable Swimmer (one of only two Hornets so honored in K women’s swimming history). She co-captained the team her senior year, a year that saw her honored with the Senior Leadership Award, the Knoechel Family Award recognizing athletic and academic performance, and the Tish Loveless Award for the outstanding senior female athlete of Kalamazoo College.

Colleen is tied for second in Hornet women’s swimming history for most All-American and Honorable Mention All-American finishes. Her K resumé includes study abroad (Strasbourg, France), an internship focused on software testing, and a Swim for Success app she developed for her Senior Individualized Project. In true liberal arts family fashion, one of her favorite professors is in the art department—Professor of Studio Art Tom Rice, from whom Colleen took six classes. She works as a Senior Project Manager at Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company. And she’s in her third season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Hornet swim team.

“The K experience encouraged me to try new things; it gave me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone,” says Colleen, “From the day of that long-ago recruiting trip, the K community has been a positive impact on my life.”

The 1994 Men’s Tennis Team had one of the deepest and most talented rosters in school history, according to first-year Head Coach Timon Corwin. Loaded with talent from top to bottom, the team was poised to make a serious run at a four-peat after winning the national championship the previous three seasons.

After opening the season 3-2 against Division I opponents, the Hornets proceeded to win 21 straight matches and finished with an overall record of 25-3. The third-highest win total in school history included victories over Division I opponents such as Toledo, Bowling Green, Georgia State, Presbyterian, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Of the three losses, only one was against a Division III opponent.

The Hornets won the GLCA Tournament before continuing their dominance in the MIAA with the 56^th consecutive MIAA championship. Kalamazoo won the MIAA Tournament before making its 19^th straight trip to the NCAA III Tournament.

“The leadership and strength of the upperclassmen was sensational,” said Corwin. “We were led at the top of the lineup by #1 Seth Denawetz (NCAA singles champion) and #2 Andy Alaimo. Juniors Ryan Kaltenbach, Paul Bozyk and Jason McKinney, along with All-American freshman Pat Noud, completed the top six. Junior Ted Gaty was inserted into the singles lineup at #6 heading into the MIAA Tournament and remained there through the NCAA’s.

“We had outstanding doubles as well. Ryan and Adam Afridi were ranked #1 in the country heading into the final month of the season. Seth and Pat were unbeatable at #2, and Paul and Jason were rock solid at #3.

“A season-ending injury to one of our players right before NCAA’s was a devastating blow to a team favored to win the team title. Without the #1 doubles player in the nation and lockdown #3 singles player, this team still took third place at the NCAA’s. Seth won the national singles title, and Pat made the quarterfinals to earn All-American honors. It was an amazing finish to the year!”

Kalamazoo defeated tournament host Redlands before falling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the semifinals. The Hornets defeated UC-Santa Cruz in the third-place match to take home the bronze.

“What I remember most about this team was the way they loved each other,” Corwin said. “Twenty-nine years later, they are still the best of friends.”

Team members include:  Adam Afridi ’95, Andrew Alaimo ’94, Andreas Boquist ’96, Paul Bozyk ’95, Pat Carroll ’95, James Collins ’95, Seth Denawetz ’94, Chad Fix ’96, Chris Fowler ’94, Rich Gasiorski ’97, Kevin Holmes ’96, Ted Gaty ’95, Ryan Kaltenbach ’95, Chris Kennelly, Guillermo Leon ’97, Jason McKinney ’95, Pat Noud ’97, Bret Orr ’97, Blake Peters ’96, Cheo Ramsey ’96, Marc Reeves ’95 and Head Coach Timon Corwin ’86.