Margaret Junker Concludes Stellar Collegiate Tennis Career

Margaret Junker earned many accolades during her recently competed collegiate tennis career at Rollins College in Florida.

Junker, who won two individual doubles state championships and was part of three team champions during her high school career at St. Joseph's Academy, had a lot of success on the court with the Tars.

She had a combined 84-10 record and was a doubles NCAA Division II All-American as a junior and missed out by just two spots of earning All-American recognition in singles as a senior this past year.

She was named first team All-Sunshine State Conference as a senior after finishing with a 21-3 record, mostly at No. 2 singles with all three losses coming against ranked players.

The award that meant the most to Junker though was the team Most Valuable Player honor for a Rollins team which finished in the top 10 nationally in three of Junker's four seasons. She received the team MVP all four years.

"That is a special award because it has nothing at all to do with rankings," said Junker, who graduated in four years with a major in Psychology. "It is an award which is voted on by my teammates. It means a lot more to me than any kind of national ranking to be recognized by them."

Junker won the MVP playing at No. 5 singles as a freshman and at No. 4 as a sophomore and junior. She played 21 of her 24 matches as a senior at No. 2 singles. She was at No. 1 in the other three, winning them all.

"I don't have all of the records but my best guess is that there has never been a four-year team Most Valuable Player here," said Rollins coach Bev Buckley, who will begin her 25th year as head coach in the fall. "That shows the respect that Margaret had with her teammates. I let them vote on it but typically the vote comes out the way I would have voted."

Buckley has her own award, the Coaches Award. And Junker won that as a freshman, sophomore and senior. That award is bestowed annually to a Rollins women's tennis player who exhibits a positive attitude, works hard on and off the court, displays good sportsmanship, speaks respectually to her teammates and coaches and shows consistent proficiency in competition.

"Margaret could have won that award all four years as well," Buckley said. "It is the biggest award that I give because it includes everything you would look for in a student-athlete.

"Margaret did a great job on the court for us, she rarely lost. But she was just as valuable to the team off the court as she was on the court. Her wins were obviously important to the team's success but she was also a great role model. She was an outstanding student and a true leader."

Junker will long remember her four years at the Winter Park school.

"I was so blessed to have been a part of this tennis team," Junker said. "It taught me so much. There were some ups and downs but there were a lot more ups. It was such a great experience overall."

Junker, who is currently working as a personal trainer at CrossFit in Valley Park, looks to stay involved in the game as a coach. She looks forward to the day in which she can return to coaching at her high school alma mater. That day could be coming as soon as this fall.

"I know what it is like to be a high school tennis player, getting ready for college," Junker said. "It can be very stressful. But I feel I can help the girls both on and off the court."

And Junker will surely have the respect of her players having been a four-time collegiate team MVP.