For many high school graduates, college means going a little further away from home. For Victor Pugliese, college meant going 5,681 miles away from home.
“I came to America to study, to learn English, and to play tennis,” Pugliese said.
Originally from Paris, France, Pugliese began his journey as a tennis player thanks to a close family member. “What got me into tennis? My uncle, he was very good,” the Monmouth Hawk said.
Now a junior studying finance and business at Monmouth University, Pugliese initially began his college career in San Diego.
“I wanted to go to California,” he explained. During his time in San Diego, Pugliese faced high levels of competition including UCLA, USC, Alabama and Malibu.
While he felt comfortable on the tennis courts, Pugliese loved California for the climate as well. “In France, the coldest it gets is 35 degrees, 40 degrees. We play indoors [in NJ], but it’s still pretty hard adjusting,” he said.
Pugliese would have liked to remain in California, but was forced to leave due to conflicts with coaching. Due to tennis regulations, he could not transfer into a university that plays in the same conference as San Diego leaving many top Californian tennis schools out of the equation.
Pugliese said that MU’s head tennis coach, Cory Hubbard, had contacted him through a mutual friend; one of Pugliese’s ex-teammates from San Diego who now plays at Fordham University in NY. Having coached at Fordham, Hubbard heard of Pugliese’s story.
“Victor was thinking of transferring schools so I brought him in during the summer. He wanted to play number one for a school,” Hubbard said. “He played for a top 20 program at San Diego. With our young team, he provides that experience and leadership.”
While Pugliese brings a level of high competition to MU, he officially became a Hawk in July giving him little time to prepare for the upcoming fall season.
“[The hardest match was] the first tournament because I hadn’t practiced the whole summer so that was difficult. I couldn’t really practice because I was still looking for a school,” Pugliese said.
Although he did not have much time to practice, Pugliese managed to lead the team in singles with a 6-3 record during the fall season. Due to injuries, he was forced to miss the the first two matches of the spring season. However, he did play in his first spring match on Saturday, Feb. 1 against Army.
Playing doubles with teammate Przemyslaw Filipek, Pugliese defeated Army’s combination of Rommel Verano and Sam Lampman, 6-3. He also won his singles match against Sam Lampman, 6-5 and 6-2.
Pugliese also competed this past weekend against the Princeon Tigers and the Boston College Eagles. Although he and freshman teammate Przemyslaw Filipek fought valiantly, they lost in doubles to Princeton’s combination of Bloom and Davies, 6-5. He also lost in singles to Princeton’s Alex Day, 6-5, 6-4.
Despite a few recent losses, Pugliese has become MU’s number one tennis player in both doubles and singles. Although he does play both well, he does have a preference.
While in France, he played mostly singles but he also participated in a different type of competition. “The style of mine is different here,” he continued. “Here, you play for your college. In France, I would play for myself. You can play ATP in both [America and France], but a lot of players from Europe come here.”
Pugliese said that if it were not for tennis, many Europeans including himself would not have come to America to pursue an education. They most likely would still gain an education, but probably in France.
Even though Pugliese has played tennis for a majority of his life, he does not see himself on the courts ten years down the road. “I love to be in California working there with all my friends or in New York. I don’t know,” he said.
For the mean time, Pugliese will be preparing for MU’s next match on Thursday, Feb. 13 in Jersey City, NJ to face conference rivals the Saint Peter’s Peacocks.
PHOTO COURTESY of Jim Reme
