Chase Sariaslani is the 21-year-old returning No. 1 singles player and team captain of your Santa Rosa Junior College men’s tennis team.

He was a highly-regarded soccer player at Marillo Carillo High School when he converted to playing tennis at 16.

“I literally started playing six to eight hours a day,” Sariaslani said. “I just got really into it. I wasn’t on anybody’s radar until just recently. It’s pretty much a near-miracle.”

Sariaslani is a natural lefty but he plays tennis right-handed, which is unusual for tennis.

Assistant coach Stewart Hutton attributes Sariaslani’s foot speed to his soccer background.

“He’s a guy that picks things up very quickly and has a lot of foot speed,” Hutton said. “He runs down a lot of balls, and makes sure the opponent has to beat him. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes out there.”

Even though Sariaslani is considered one of the best tennis players in the Big 8 conference and the best player at SRJC, he is honest about his abilities, saying of an upcoming match, “I don’t know if I would have won my match,” but he was confident his team would win.

“Chase is coming along really nicely,” said head coach Jay Samonte. “He’s maturing at a decent rate coming from being really raw last year and inexperienced in competitions. He’s played a lot of tournaments, and I think he has the foundation to do well.”

Sariaslani is maturing as far as his tennis game goes, but he is still known as the “joke killer” by his teammates.

“Chase has the ability to kill all jokes that come his way,” Hutton said. “You can have a joke go for a little while, and it will be funny. Chase will take it one step further, and the joke will be done. And we’re all a little disappointed that we couldn’t keep the joke alive because of Chase.”

The tennis team practices for two hours every Monday and Wednesday. Then Sariaslani practices another two hours with his personal coach. The team plays their matches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If there are no matches on those days, the team scrimmages with each other for two hours. Then Sariaslani practices with his coach for another two hours. Fridays, the team practices for another two hours doing TRX.

“TRX is based off of suspension cables where you do a workout that uses your own bodyweight,” Sariaslani explained. “We do an hour of that. Then we practice for two hours. Then I practice with my coach for two hours.”

That’s 21 hours of practice and training a week.

On top of that, Sariaslani starts class at 7:30 a.m. He gets out of his last class of the day at 8 p.m., and he studies between classes. Some of you may have seen Sariaslani in the math lab where he volunteers.

Sariaslani is a math major and wants to attend UC Davis. He feels that tennis is his ticket there.

“Academically I have a shot at making it to a decent college,” Sariaslani said.

He wakes up every morning between 5 and 7 a.m., Saturdays being the only day he can choose to sleep in, which he sometimes opts to do. Chase will play a match with himself, as there are no team functions on the weekend.

“I don’t have the greatest diet,” Chase said. “I eat a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch. I eat a couple of apples and a banana and lots of fruits between lunch and dinner.”

Chase works at a tennis club as a clerk on Tuesdays and Thursdays when there are no matches.

As a testament to Chase’s drive, he found difficulty when asked how he likes to relax, almost like it was a foreign word that needed an explanation. Outside of school, work and tennis, the only things he really has time for is family and his girlfriend.

“There are certain times when you play, and it’s just so heated, you’re in the zone. You get those moments, and you can think back to them, and it feels so wonderful that you were able to do that,” Chase said.

Chase wanted to congratulate SRJC Tennis Coach Jay Samonte on the women’s team and he hopes they have a good season.

Chase also wanted to give a shout out to teammate Teddy Hanford. Teddy played tennis in high school, but put that racket down for seven years. On pure happenstance, Teddy was walking by the tennis courts and saw Coach Samonte. He asked what it would take to make the team. Coach Samonte told him to come back later that day for a tryout. Hanford made the team and is now the No. 6 singles player. So, congrats Teddy from your teammate Chase.