Eagan sophomore Samantha Nichols calls the same person after each of her matches. At the other end of the line is her brother Drew.
“He tells me how proud he is of me,” Samantha said. “It really just gives me an extra boost to play.”
Samantha Nichols went 3-0 at No. 1 singles during Eagan’s run to fourth place at the Class 2A team tournament and will enter the Class 2A singles bracket Thursday at the Baseline Tennis Center. She’ll take on St. Louis Park junior Natalie Lorentz at 8 a.m.
Nichols has a reputation to live up to; her brother Drew, a junior at St. Cloud State, was part of the Eagan boys’ second-place finish at the state meet in 2010 and played college tennis for the Huskies.
“I always looked up to him,” Samantha said. “I’ve been watching him ever since I could remember. He has always been a role model for me. He just really showed me how to be a good tennis player, how to put the effort in and (that) when you do, what comes out of it.”
But Drew’s career at St. Cloud State was cut short. The summer after his freshman year, he found a lump under his arm. It was cancer. The following day, Drew was at the Mayo Clinic prepping for major surgery; 83 lymph nodes were removed.
“It made me really nervous, because I didn’t know what was next,” Samantha said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen to him, and it kind of made me put everything in perspective in my life.”
Drew went through seven weeks of radiation and has been cancer-free for a year. But his collegiate tennis career is over.
The end of his playing days motivated Samantha to be better, said Eagan coach Scott Nichols, the father of Samantha and Drew.
“Her game since his recovery has improved tremendously,” Scott said. “She wants to play for her coach and her teammates and so forth, but I think playing for Drew, she would probably say that means the most.”
“I wanted to continue with my tennis just to show that he’s with me every day and I play for him,” Samantha said.
She also has helped keep Drew in the game to some degree. This summer, the brother-sister duo competed in a small mixed-doubles tournament in South Dakota. Scott said it was the only time his son has picked up his racquet in a year and a half, and Drew and Samantha won.
“I had to carry him the whole time, basically,” Samantha said. “But it was a lot of fun to win with him and go back into it a little bit.”
After his recovery, Drew decided to get into radiology, hoping to provide the same care he received as a patient.
And though the two talk often, Drew won’t receive a call from Samantha on Thursday after her singles match, because the plan is for him to be in the stands, cheering his sister on.
“It’s really great to have him come watch me play,” Samantha said. “He loves to cheer, so I know I’ll hear him.”
Follow Jace Frederick at twitter.com/JaceFrederick.
