LA JOLLA, Calif. – On any given Tuesday, you can find senior
Ella Pachl in her organic chemistry lab, mixing and extracting a multitude of organic compounds long before and after the sun makes itself fully known. The four-hour class is just an appetizer for the Division I tennis player, who clocks another three hours in training and another hour in the weight room before she can catch her breath.
Whichever way you split it, Pachl embodies the "no rest for the weary" mantra while finding the silver lining through it all.
"I'm like a grandma, I go to sleep at 10, 9:30."
Pachl's fate as a human biology major can be traced back to her unfortunate streak of breaking "an ungodly amount of bones" which made her a regular at the hospital. She soon grew comfortable and interested in the medical environment surrounding her, prompting an initial trajectory toward medical school.
Such aspirations were scuttled along by Medcore, a high school program taught by healthcare professionals who provided an overview of the various avenues of the medical field. An internship during her senior year at an urgent care facility gave her some patient experience before COVID-19 got in the way and shut down the internship.
Pachl has now shifted her focus to medical device sales, where she will continue to work closely with medical professionals. Such a decision is thanks, in large part, to the university's sprawl of course offerings which has allowed Pachl to find her niche.
"There are definitely some very challenging courses,...but you've got to take classes that you got to choose," Pachl said. "I took biology of cancer, a molecular medicine lab, [and studied] things that are interesting and more real world."
These mighty courses are made manageable through Pachl's second commitment, tennis, specifically through the support of her academically pundit teammates. A hefty portion of the team are also STEM majors, which means a ready knowledge base of information on classes and professors, as well as much-needed study help.
This high caliber athletics and academics duality, a trait Pachl notes as unique to UC San Diego, has been synergized by the women's tennis team which has claimed the highest team grade point average (GPA) in the Athletics Department for the past four quarters and counting.
"We get along better than any team I've ever seen," Pachl said. "We spend a ton of time together, whether that be studying, dinner, whatever."
Pachl's tennis origins date back to the spry age of four during her "very good and normal upbringing." Sports were a staple in the for the family, with Pachl's mother playing soccer and her father playing tennis during their college days. She stuck with her father's pathway out of necessity after breaking her wrist and even her back playing soccer.
"It was a mutual thing where it was, 'Tennis is probably the safer option for you at this point, so you're going to do that,'" Pachl said. "And it worked out."
Victories at "little tiny tennis tournaments" soon turned into high school state championships as a senior at Laguna Beach High School. Such exponential success propelled her into the Big West tennis scene, where she found herself on the ground floor of UC San Diego's Division I endeavor.
While the coronavirus reared its ugly head during her freshman season, isolating the squad from virtually everybody but each other, Pachl and her teammates made the most of this proximity. Dinners and road matches cultivated the camaraderie so often missing from individual sports, translating to early success out of the gate for Pachl.
Primarily playing in the second position in her first season, Pachl collected three wins in singles play. Her pairing with
Sophie Pearson in the first position of doubles play yielded four more wins. Such numbers made her a regular at the first and second positions of both formats as she went on to link up with several teammates across her four years.
Despite the leading success, Pachl and the program have undoubtedly experienced an uphill battle as they navigate the Division I space for the first time. Nevertheless, Pachl remains confident in UC San Diego's potential: "I think if they keep developing the talent, recruiting better and better people, and maintain a good coaching staff, I think they could definitely be winning Big West titles."
Pachl has noted the growing number of resources becoming available to athletes as her time as a Triton has progressed and sees the program moving in the right direction. However, for Pachl, the most vital factor in the team's continued success lies in maintaining the team culture she and others have cultivated.
"It's so much easier to compete as a team when you're all friends and wanting to be there," Pachl said.
Ella Pachl's four years as a Triton has cemented her legacy as a stalwart competitor and team leader both on and off the court. She has undoubtedly earned herself a rest before she sets out on her next adventure.
A preliminary warning to all weekend tennis talents: this "adventure" might just include a match at a court near you.
"I think that could be a funny little thing to just never tell them I played college tennis and then just, 'Oh yeah, I've picked up a racket once or twice before.'"
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
