First-year Kajsa Helgesen has been consistently winning for the University of Rhode Island tennis team all season and is making an impact both on and off the court.
Helgesen is originally from Stavanger, Norway, and URI head coach Jonas Brobeck is originally from Sweden. Several other players on the team are also international. Helgesen was put on Brobeck’s radar by an agency he has connections to in Europe.
“I recruited her for nearly over a year,” Brobeck said. “I went back to see my family in Sweden, and then I went over to Oslo and drove to this tournament to watch her play and compete.”
Despite being a first-year athlete, Helgesen leads the team in singles victories. Helgesen has also been phenomenal in doubles play. She and fourth-year Nikki Fernando have the most doubles victories for the team this season.
Fernando recently broke the record for doubles victories in program history when she picked up her 65th win against Davidson College on Friday.
Brobeck knew that he wanted to pair up Fernando and Helgesen long before she even stepped on campus.
“Even two summers ago, when I was recruiting Kajsa very hard,” Brobeck said. “I knew then and there if she comes to us, I’d probably put her with Nikki, because their game style fits really, really well.”
The pairing of Fernando and Helgesen has worked out. However, the relationship between Helgesen and Fernando continues off the court as well.
“I think the reason that we do so well is we have fun on court,” Helgesen said. “We have fun, and that’s the most important thing for us in order to play well, and we have great energy and know how to communicate.”
Winning isn’t something new for Helgesen; she has a multitude of accolades from tournaments and championships in Norway. But being in the United States and playing collegiate tennis is, and it took some time for Helgesen to adjust.
“It took most of the fall semester for me,” Helgesen said. “The hardest part was when you come to deuce, it’s deciding point instead of playing advantage. Also, I’ve never played on outdoor hard courts before, so I think that was the hardest part for me.”
There’s no doubt Helgesen has made a positive impact on the team in a short period of time. However, Helgesen has plenty of time left in her URI career.
“She’s such a lovely person, and that’s where it starts,” Brobeck said. “It starts with a great human being, the girls really like her, and she’s very understanding of the team first mentality… The sky is the limit for her; if we can add some bits and pieces to her toolbox, she’s going to be one heck of a player.
Helgesen and the Rams have three matches remaining in the regular season before the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament. URI will be looking to win its first A-10 Championship in program history.
