ESPN RISE

Tessa Lyons used to feel pressure and buckle underneath it. But the Strath Haven (Wallingford, Pa.) senior isn't affected by nerves anymore. With one exception.

Put Lyons -- ranked Pennsylvania's No. 1 player in the Class of 2010 by TennisRecruting.net at press time -- in a national tournament against one of the top players in the country and it's no big deal. Have her play in front of recruiters and the best college coaches around and she takes it as just another match.

But get her in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) state tournament and suddenly everything changes.

That's when her nerves creep up. That's when her stomach tightens and her hands tremble. That's when she knows how much she cares.

"The meaning of states, it's so much more," says Lyons. "You only get four chances and that's it. There is no other state tournament after that."

Lyons learned that lesson the hard way. She watched from the stands as her older brother Walker failed to win an individual state title four years in a row. She saw the disappointment on his face as he walked off the court, and she knew she didn't want to take the same somber stroll. But for the first two years of her high school career, Lyons' season ended in similar heartache.

As a freshman, she lost in the second round of the state tournament. As a sophomore, she entered states undefeated but walked away with tears streaming down her cheeks after losing in the opening round.

"That was probably the most frustrating loss I ever had," says Lyons. "But you get more out of losing because you see what you need to do to improve."

With the loss serving as motivation, Lyons was back on the practice court a day later ripping balls over the net. She also dedicated the offseason to getting in better shape, running sprints at a nearby track and working out with a personal trainer. When she returned to states as a junior, she was stronger not only physically but also mentally, something that was immediately put to the test.

Lyons lost the opening set in the opening round of states, putting her right back in the same position she'd been the previous two years: one misstep away from her season ending in disappointment. Only this time she evaluated the situation, figured out she was overanxious to get a win and rectified the problem.

She slowed down her play, took the match one point at a time and started crushing winners just like she did in practice. Her desire to win a state title would get in the way of actually winning a state title no more. Lyons won the next two sets, then won the PIAA Class AAA individual state title one day later, scoring a three-set victory over Greater Latrobe's (Latrobe, Pa.) Joelle Kissell (ranked No. 43 in the Class of 2010 by TennisRecruiting.net) in the semifinals along the way.

"The win was so special for her," Strath Haven coach Andy Perella says. "She played two girls that could have easily beaten her. But her will to win pushed her over the edge."

Since then, Lyons has only gotten better.

At press time, she was ranked the nation's No. 41 overall recruit in the Class of 2010 by TennisRecruiting.net after winning the L3 and L4 Sectional Championships for Girls 18 and younger. She beat some of the best players in the nation to earn the ranking -- including fellow in-state stars Anna Mamalat and Ronit Yurovsky, the No. 9 and No. 17 girls, respectively, in the Class of 2012 -- proving what her personal coach already knew.

"She's an absolute killer on the court," says Ian Griffith, Lyons' coach of six years at the Australian Tennis Academy at Penn Charter School (Philadelphia, Pa.). "She plays every point like she's down match point."

Lyons' desire to win each point hindered her performances as a younger player. In her early years of competitive tennis, Lyons would get down on herself during a match and allow one bad shot to impact the next. She didn't win many matches because of her attitude and the fact that she tried to hit winners all the time.

"It goes back to me hating losing," says Lyons. "I wanted to win so bad that I couldn't put it all together. I would just freak out and lose it."

Lyons learned how to control her emotions by watching Walker control his. When her older brother lost big matches, especially the four in the state tournament, he walked off disappointed but even more determined to get better in practice. That attitude rubbed off on Tessa.

"As hard as she was working a year ago, she got motivated to step it up three notches," says Griffith, who also coached Walker. "Her brother was the same way. Both of them hate to lose."

Walker isn't the only one who had a role in her development. Her eldest brother, Andrew, also played a major part. He still hits with her on the court and helped develop the technical aspects of her game, like her serve. But while both brothers and Griffith helped Lyons get where she is now, it's her desire to be the best that drives her the most.

"My expectations for myself are really high, and I obviously don't like to lose," says Lyons. "I just expect myself to play my best and get better no matter what."

And when she gets to college, Lyons plans for her game to take another step forward. Although she hasn't narrowed down her choices, other than saying, "I want to go to a big school," Lyons hopes to play at a competitive university, both on the court and in the classroom.

"I expect my tennis game to improve a lot when I'm at college," says Lyons. "I think I can take my game to another level."

Lyons has already done that once -- and she has a state championship gold medal hanging on her wall to prove it.