In less than ten minutes, 27 student-athletes found out that they would have to leave their home at the University of St. Thomas or sacrifice the thing that brought them here: varsity tennis.

Minutes before St. Thomas Athletics publicly announced the decision to discontinue its men’s and women’s varsity tennis programs, the two teams received the news from athletics, the Board of Trustees and President Julie Sullivan in a May 11 meeting that they were notified about earlier that morning.

“We were all talking about our sizes for next year, what we were going to get, the shoes, the racquets, the bags,” women’s tennis first-year Jannah Elnemr said. “We all thought they were congratulating us, we all left work, we all left classes to go there, and they just honestly broke our hearts. One of my teammates, my doubles partner, I’ve never seen her cry before.”

Director of Athletics Phil Esten said that this move, although negatively affecting current tennis student-athletes, was part of a larger plan to provide a meaningful experience to student-athletes in the future.

“This was the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in my career,” Esten said.

Now, tennis players like Elnemr, who were attracted to St. Thomas in hopes of a Division I scholarship but cannot afford tuition otherwise, have little time to find plan B.

“They’re already all looking for a new location,” tennis coach Kenneth Cychosz said. “That’s hard to do on May 12. Especially for some of these players who really are scholarship players and really are looking for a Division I opportunity.”

Other players, like upperclassmen who want to finish their degree at St. Thomas, saw the abrupt end of their careers.

“My heart really goes out to (the team) because they didn’t have the same amount of time that I’ve had to process that my tennis career is coming to an end,” women’s tennis senior Katie O’Connor said.

The timing of the decision came directly before St. Thomas’ finals week and less than a week before the women’s team would leave for the NCAA tournament, where they made a run to the Sweet 16.

“So, you can either study, you can either practice, you can go to nationals, or look for another school to try to transfer into,” Elnemr said.

Elnemr, who is from Egypt, faces these struggles without her parents, who live on a different continent.

Esten said St. Thomas plans to help the student-athletes through the decisions they now face.

“If they want to stay at St. Thomas, we’ll support that, and if they want to look at other options with help navigating those other options, we’ll certainly support that as well,” Esten said. “We’re here for them as students first.”

Cyschosz stressed that the season has had and will end with the same theme: family.

“We’re a family,” Cychosz said. “It wouldn’t matter if it was St. Thomas or the University of X, we’ve done this together.”

Elnemr and O’Connor echoed the sentiments of their coach.

“You can cut the program, but you can’t cut the family that we’ve created for ourselves,” O’Connor said.

Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.