Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Barnard Sisters Making an Impact at MT
2/18/2018 11:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Pretoria, South Africa is known as the administrative capital of the country. The city houses the South African president's offices and hosted Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994. It's also known as Jacaranda City due to the abundance of the large, purple-flowering Jacaranda tree.
As the Jacarandas blossomed throughout Pretoria in the early 2000s, the tennis career of two blonde-haired twins blossomed before the cities eyes, too.
Lee and Zani Barnard were born on March 15, 1999, in Witbank, a city in the Southern Cape. As they were growing up, the family relocated to Springbok, a small town in the Northern Cape.
In a town of 13,000, the lone local tennis court was one of the few things to do, so the twins' father, Johan, introduced them to the game at age of 7.
Johan continued to mentor his children as juniors. They set the tennis world on fire by attaining top-100 world junior rankings from the International Tennis Federation (Lee was ranked 72nd, Zani 98th).
"(Our father) has had a huge influence on us," Lee said. "He got us into tennis and was always finding ways to help us get better."
The duo continued that improvement as the years went by, earning multiple championships and an opportunity to compete in the 2014 International Club Junior Challenge in London. The prestigious tournament is played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the site of Wimbledon.
At the same time, 8,558 miles to the northwest of Pretoria, Middle Tennessee's head women's tennis coach Charlie Ramsay had his eye on the Barnards. But, despite the digital age we live in, contacting the pair proved to be a bit of a challenge.
"It's pretty unusual this day and age not to have Facebook, but neither one of them had a Facebook, which can be a pretty handy recruiting tool," Ramsay said. "When we realized we had two recruiting spots open this year and they were twin sisters both ranked in the top 100 in the ITF, we wanted to reach out to them, but we couldn't really find them."
After finding the phone number to a camp the pair attended, Ramsay was able to establish a point of contact and things took off from there.
"(Coach Ramsay) was really informative in describing what MTSU and Murfreesboro were like, and he stayed in contact with us often, which was different from some of the other colleges," Zani said. "The community-based atmosphere and (Coach) Charlie is why (Lee and I) chose MTSU."
After visiting Murfreesboro for the first time in April 2017, Lee and Zani signed in the fall and joined the rest of the Blue Raiders in January.
Since arriving, the South African natives have gotten off to a roaring start. In singles play, the freshmen have combined for an 8-1 record, and they are 2-0 as a pair in doubles play.
In their singles debut at Murfreesboro's Adams Tennis Complex against Belmont and Austin Peay, Lee defeated the Bruins' Drew Hankins 6-0, 6-3 while her sister triumphed over Belmont's Sarah Brackin 7-5, 6-4, guiding the Blue Raiders to a singles sweep over their mid-state rival.
Against the Governors, Lee claimed a 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 victory while Zani had a 6-1, 6-3 win of her own.
Six days later against Lipscomb and Murray State, the twins led MT to singles sweeps over both teams. Then, when Middle Tennessee was down 2-0 in singles play in a match with Tulsa on Feb. 4, Zani stepped into the pressure-filled situation and secured a 6-3, 6-2 victory to pull the Raiders to within a point.
Although the Barnard's have had a fast start, they've gone through their fair share of adversity this year.
On top of adjusting to life in the U.S., the Pretoria natives have battled with injuries.
"They've struggled a little bit more than they've succeeded early on," Ramsay said.
Through the rough patches they've had, the 18-year-olds have been able to lean on the inseparable bond they've built to persevere.
In their small campus dorm, the twins decided to put their beds in one room and their desks in another so they could sleep and do homework together. They have multiple classes together and have been able to use each other as a cornerstone in their own respective rehabs and on-the-court development.
"Life is definitely better with (Zani) here," Lee said. "The first few weeks were really difficult. We were lost and found out classes here are a lot different, but with (Zani) here, I'm definitely more comfortable and appreciate all the small things she does."
The chemistry they've developed throughout their lives can be seen by stepping into the ATC and watching the pair go to battle together.
After having their first two doubles matches go unfinished, the Barnards secured their first win in doubles competition against Murray State's Jeanne Masson and Sarah Bjork by a score of 6-1 on Jan. 20.
In MTSU's latest battle against Samford, Lee and Zani picked up their second doubles victory by a 6-3 margin.
"(Lee and Zani) are winners, and that's what this program needs," Ramsay said. "They hold themselves to a high standard. If we can get eight girls to hold themselves to that high standard, we can really do some good things."
Blue Raider fans in Murfreesboro may not be able to gaze out their windows and marvel at the giant Jacaranda, but they can certainly see two of its petals that found their way from Pretoria to the courts of the Adams Tennis Complex: Lee and Zani Barnard.
As the Jacarandas blossomed throughout Pretoria in the early 2000s, the tennis career of two blonde-haired twins blossomed before the cities eyes, too.
Lee and Zani Barnard were born on March 15, 1999, in Witbank, a city in the Southern Cape. As they were growing up, the family relocated to Springbok, a small town in the Northern Cape.
In a town of 13,000, the lone local tennis court was one of the few things to do, so the twins' father, Johan, introduced them to the game at age of 7.
Johan continued to mentor his children as juniors. They set the tennis world on fire by attaining top-100 world junior rankings from the International Tennis Federation (Lee was ranked 72nd, Zani 98th).
"(Our father) has had a huge influence on us," Lee said. "He got us into tennis and was always finding ways to help us get better."
The duo continued that improvement as the years went by, earning multiple championships and an opportunity to compete in the 2014 International Club Junior Challenge in London. The prestigious tournament is played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the site of Wimbledon.
At the same time, 8,558 miles to the northwest of Pretoria, Middle Tennessee's head women's tennis coach Charlie Ramsay had his eye on the Barnards. But, despite the digital age we live in, contacting the pair proved to be a bit of a challenge.
"It's pretty unusual this day and age not to have Facebook, but neither one of them had a Facebook, which can be a pretty handy recruiting tool," Ramsay said. "When we realized we had two recruiting spots open this year and they were twin sisters both ranked in the top 100 in the ITF, we wanted to reach out to them, but we couldn't really find them."
After finding the phone number to a camp the pair attended, Ramsay was able to establish a point of contact and things took off from there.
"(Coach Ramsay) was really informative in describing what MTSU and Murfreesboro were like, and he stayed in contact with us often, which was different from some of the other colleges," Zani said. "The community-based atmosphere and (Coach) Charlie is why (Lee and I) chose MTSU."
After visiting Murfreesboro for the first time in April 2017, Lee and Zani signed in the fall and joined the rest of the Blue Raiders in January.
Since arriving, the South African natives have gotten off to a roaring start. In singles play, the freshmen have combined for an 8-1 record, and they are 2-0 as a pair in doubles play.
In their singles debut at Murfreesboro's Adams Tennis Complex against Belmont and Austin Peay, Lee defeated the Bruins' Drew Hankins 6-0, 6-3 while her sister triumphed over Belmont's Sarah Brackin 7-5, 6-4, guiding the Blue Raiders to a singles sweep over their mid-state rival.
Against the Governors, Lee claimed a 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 victory while Zani had a 6-1, 6-3 win of her own.
Six days later against Lipscomb and Murray State, the twins led MT to singles sweeps over both teams. Then, when Middle Tennessee was down 2-0 in singles play in a match with Tulsa on Feb. 4, Zani stepped into the pressure-filled situation and secured a 6-3, 6-2 victory to pull the Raiders to within a point.
Although the Barnard's have had a fast start, they've gone through their fair share of adversity this year.
On top of adjusting to life in the U.S., the Pretoria natives have battled with injuries.
"They've struggled a little bit more than they've succeeded early on," Ramsay said.
Through the rough patches they've had, the 18-year-olds have been able to lean on the inseparable bond they've built to persevere.
In their small campus dorm, the twins decided to put their beds in one room and their desks in another so they could sleep and do homework together. They have multiple classes together and have been able to use each other as a cornerstone in their own respective rehabs and on-the-court development.
"Life is definitely better with (Zani) here," Lee said. "The first few weeks were really difficult. We were lost and found out classes here are a lot different, but with (Zani) here, I'm definitely more comfortable and appreciate all the small things she does."
The chemistry they've developed throughout their lives can be seen by stepping into the ATC and watching the pair go to battle together.
After having their first two doubles matches go unfinished, the Barnards secured their first win in doubles competition against Murray State's Jeanne Masson and Sarah Bjork by a score of 6-1 on Jan. 20.
In MTSU's latest battle against Samford, Lee and Zani picked up their second doubles victory by a 6-3 margin.
"(Lee and Zani) are winners, and that's what this program needs," Ramsay said. "They hold themselves to a high standard. If we can get eight girls to hold themselves to that high standard, we can really do some good things."
Blue Raider fans in Murfreesboro may not be able to gaze out their windows and marvel at the giant Jacaranda, but they can certainly see two of its petals that found their way from Pretoria to the courts of the Adams Tennis Complex: Lee and Zani Barnard.
Players Mentioned
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