Marissa Olan Andres is a sweetheart in person, and has a distinctive personality on the court.
Senior Marisa Olan played her final year at TJ this year. Photo by Henna Danek.
Olan first started playing tennis when she was in 7th grade at Highline Academy Middle School. “Tennis was the only sport they offered for females, and basketball for the guys, so I joined tennis and I just rolled with it,” Olan said.
Olan plays doubles for the Spartans. She says she likes that position better than singles. “Working with a partner motivates me when I have another person who is counting on me other than myself. It makes me want to win more and I want to make my partner proud,” said Olan. At Thomas Jefferson High School there have been many matches that Olan has succeeded in but, there has been one match that stood out to her the most. “Last year at the Lincoln Invitational game, my partner and I won first place. It was special because we won first place and also because it gave me a chance to mend a broken friendship with my partner, as well as make her feel proud of me as a teammate.”
Her partner at the time was Brie Cueva, who first started playing tennis her sophomore year at Thomas Jefferson High School, and she also mentioned that the Lincoln match was one of her favorite moments in playing tennis. “During the Lincoln tournament, we faced East in the championship match. We split sets, expecting not to win. The East girls were getting tired, and (Olan) and I took that opportunity to pull ahead. Sure enough, we did. When we won we looked at each other in shock. I felt like it was the first time that we played like the old us. We were proud that we defeated our rivals, and that we played as a team. We proved to everyone what we were capable of accomplishing, so we took this victory and turned it into many more throughout the season.”
Tim Cueva was her coach last year and he was very proud of Olan and her partner Brie Cueva. “They played very well together; they knocked out the number one players from Bear Creek, East, and Conifer. They knocked out three of the top teams of the state, to win the tournament,” he said
Olan also puts in the hard work in the classroom, making the Honor Roll last year during tennis season. “Tennis did help me with my grades because it gave me motivation to do better in school,” she said. Her favorite teacher is Matt Santambrogio. Olan says, “He’s cool and down to earth. His teaching skills reflect how much he cares about his students. My favorite subject is literature as well, because we’ve done all kinds of cool projects in Santambrogio’s class. We are about to start the Vietnam unit, which should be pretty cool.”
Other than tennis, Olan is also learning how to play the guitar. She loves music and says it’s never too late to start something new. She is planning to attend Metropolitan State University of Denver. Olan also plans to travel to foreign countries and experience new cultures, as well as keep playing tennis, but mostly focus on her schoolwork. “I also see myself getting married and having kids in the future. I want to live in Denver with my family, as well,” said Olan, who is a successful student who loves to play tennis and is excited to graduate high school, to explore, and learn many new things in life.
