Not only will the Marquette women's tennis team be saying goodbye to Conference USA this year, it will also wish a warm farewell to one of its players — freshman Elsemieke Dokter.
Once the season and the school year wrap up, Dokter will say "tot ziens" to Milwaukee and head back overseas to the Netherlands.
Dokter is willing to sacrifice being a "Cheesehead" in order to focus on her major, biomedical science. Instead of the eight years it would have taken her to complete medical school in America, Dokter will be able to start medical school in the Netherlands as early as next fall.
The daughter of Tedde Dokter and Marietje de Boer, both physical education teachers, Dokter says she began playing tennis as soon as she could walk.
She did not play high school tennis because it was not offered in her native country, but she was a ranked junior in the Netherlands prior to her time on the Marquette squad.
Throughout the 2004-'05 season, Dokter consistently played No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles. In singles she has a 4-14 record on the season.
Dokter helped the Golden Eagles clinch victories this year against schools such as Northern Illinois and Bowling Green.
"Playing at Marquette was a great experience because we do not have high school or university sports back at home," Dokter said. "I enjoyed playing for the school and meeting lots of people with different views and attitudes."
Despite the Netherlands' lack of competitive school athletics, Dokter plans to continue playing the sport that has been such a huge part of her life for a private tennis club.
Since Dokter had never played on a school sports team before, she was very impressed with how professional Marquette's tennis program was.
"They really take care of you here at Marquette," Dokter said.
Assistant coach Raj Gill felt that Dokter was a competitive and vocal player.
"We're all going to miss Else's intensity and work ethic," Gill said. "And she was very vocal, which is something the team really needed this year."
Sophomore teammate Callan Smith agreed.
"Else was always positive on and off the court," she said. "She constantly cheered for all of us during matches."
"I am going to miss the girls on the team," Dokter said, "but I'm looking forward to the conference tournament at the end of the season."
Before Dokter and her teammates can head to sunny Texas for the C-USA Tournament, the Golden Eagles have their last home game today at 4:30 p.m. against Wisconsin-Green Bay at Helfaer Tennis Stadium.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 14 2005.