TOC SPOTLIGHT: Vivian Wen

Creating lifelong memories while competing for a national title were enough reasons for UC San Diego Tennis On Campus Club President Vivian Wen to enroll in an extra quarter of school so she could be eligible for this week’s USTA TOC National Championships in Surprise, Ariz.

“I could have graduated last quarter and I had enough credits, but I really wanted to compete in Nationals one more time,” said Wen, 21, who is originally from Shanghai, China.

UCSD is looking to improve on its fourth-place finish at Nationals last year, and was the third SoCal team to qualify beating Cal Poly in the third-place match and grabbing the sections final spot for Nationals.

This will be Wen’s third time competing at Nationals. “Our first time at Nationals we were very tight and didn’t play well because we didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “This year, I feel like we have prepared for this and we will do really good.”

The Tritons are led by former UCSD varsity player Alex Miaule of Playa del Rey. Miaule is a current graduate student at UCSD.

Wen, who is studying management science and international business, was one of the three UCSD recipients honored with the SoCal Section’s TOC Service Award this year, joining co-captain Sanjeev Sinha and coach Justin Yang.

Wen and her brother started playing tennis around the age of 7 and played junior tournaments in China before Wen moved to the United States as part of a cultural exchange program. She played high school tennis for one year in Indiana and then moved to Central California and competed in the CIF-Central Valley Section tournament playing for San Joaquin Memorial High School.

Wen said her favorite thing about playing Tennis On Campus is the diverse backgrounds of all the players. “I think that what’s special about TOC because college is a very cultural place and you have players from everywhere,” Wen said. “I think we can do well if everyone plays to their ability. It will be fun to play for the big prize one last time.”