All-Empire tennis: Marghi Andreassi three-time player of the year

Montgomery tennis player Marghi Andreassi was so dominant this year in the North Bay League, compiling a 13-0 singles record, that her opponents did not win a single set against her and managed to win only 10 out of 156 total games against her for the entire season.

Andreassi, a junior, won so convincingly that naming her the 2016 All-Empire Girls Tennis Player of the Year was as simple as her putting away a slam shot at the net.

“Marghi dominates her opponents. I’ve never been present when she has lost (a match),” Montgomery coach Mary Lehman said. “After two or three shots opponents can’t handle her ball anymore.”

Andreassi has won the POY award three consecutive years. She is 39-0 in the NBL in her three seasons with the Vikings. With her senior year upcoming in 2017 she is the heavy favorite to win the POY a fourth time.

“When girls play Marghi they know going in that they aren’t going to beat her,” Cardinal Newman coach Tony Greco said. “She is a tough opponent to play because she never gives anything away.”

While Andreassi has been the top singles player in the NBL for the past three seasons and has won the NBL tournament all three years, she hasn’t had the same success in the North Coast Section postseason.

In 2014, after a successful freshman season, she was knocked out in an early round of the NCS. In 2015, she finished in third place after losing in the semifinal round and in 2016 she had a favorable seeding but ended up not participating in the NCS. After going to Moraga to play in the first round on the originally schedule day, the event was rained out. Andreassi decided, unconventionally, not to attend the makeup day for the NCS because she said she did not want to miss more school. Andreassi said she does not regret not attending the NCS.

“It was my decision to focus on academics,” said Andreassi. “Overall I was happy with how my season went.”

Lehman said she tried to convince Andreassi how important it was to attend the makeup day of the NCS but that Andreassi was steadfast in her decision not to miss any more days of school. Fortunately for Andreassi, she will have her senior year coming up and another chance to leave her mark at the NCS.

“Maybe the NCS was a bit overwhelming to Marghi; she is young,” said Lehman. “Next year I am expecting the same sort of domination of the NBL from her and for her to go to the NCS.”

Andreassi, who was born in Italy and lived there until she migrated to the United States with her family at age 4, started playing tennis competitively at age 11 and hasn’t slowed down since. She has dual citizenship and goes back to visit extended family in Italy in every summer. Andreassi said her favorite professional tennis players are Italians Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci.

Andreassi plays outside of Montgomery year round, entering weekend events and tournaments. She is currently ranked 26th by the USTA in Northern California and 52nd in California by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

“My life is basically tennis and a lot of homework,” said Andreassi, who has a 4.5 high school GPA. “Tennis has made me a better leader.”

The development of Andreassi’s game over the past five years has been fast-rising and she credits her development in the sport to her current personal coach Jose Hilla, her first coach John Potter, Lehman, and Montgomery’s 2015 coach, Sean Benoit. “Marghi has an incredible serve - she has a ton of topspin compared to most high school players,” Lehman said. “She is more determined than other players I have coached.”

Andreassi said she intends on playing tennis in college and is hoping to have an athletic scholarship offered to her by next fall. She said she is focusing on liberal arts colleges and wants to major in biology or public health in preparation for a career in public health policy.

“Right now I’m in the middle of the college recruiting process. I’m hoping to go to a school on a scholarship which has strong academics,” Andreassi said. “It would be a cool experience for me to go to college away from home. I like the east coast a lot.”

Lehman and Greco said Andreassi has the talent to be a successfully player in college.

“Marghi is good enough to play in college at the Division I level if she continues to develop,” Greco said. “She needs to keep challenging herself. There are not many girls in the Redwood Empire area that can play with her.”

While Andreassi said her court strengths include her footwork, serve and forehand, targeted areas of improvement include her backhand and volley. She said sometimes she is too self-critical and Lehman said Andreassi can be a perfectionist.

Andreassi stressed that she doesn’t have expectations that she will never lose and added she has enjoys being part of a team and has made a lot of friends through her years of competition.

“My weakness for a while was I was too hard on myself. At times the frustration has gotten to me,” Andreassi said. “It is a really hard endeavor, but it is still fun for me to play tennis.”