Pleun Burgmans knew nothing of Auburn or what to expect from college tennis when she received an email from women's tennis head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner.
"I had heard stories from friends that went to other colleges and I visited Auburn once," Burgmans said, "but how everything really worked, I had no idea."
Burgmans, a native of the Netherlands, ended up committing to Auburn because she trusted Meisner.
"From the first email on that she sent me it felt like I knew her already for so many years," Burgmans said. "It felt very comfortable."
Playing alongside Emily Flickinger, the doubles team made a school-record run into this year's NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament, ultimately falling in the semifinals.
On the way to the semi-finals, the duo defeated the University of Southern California's No. 16-ranked duo Brynn Boren and Zoe Katz in the quarterfinals.
"They peaked at the right time," Meisner said. "They were playing really great tennis from the fall all the way through spring."
The 15th-ranked doubles tandem finished their season with a 27-7 in doubles, and both became Auburn's first All-America selections since 2009.
"Going in (to the NCAA tournament), we knew we could do well," Flickinger said. "We didn't put pressure on ourselves and decided to take it match by match."
The combination of Burgmans and Flickinger didn't always go smoothly.
"I think Emily and I really started to click during regionals in fall," Burgmans said. "Before then, we had already played together before, but because our personalities are so similar, sometimes it didn't work the way it could work."
Flickinger agreed.
"We had played two previous tournaments in the fall," Flickinger said. "We were getting better each match."
When asked about being a doubles team in the future, both athletes and the head coach were all for it.
"That's the plan obviously," Meisner said. "We like to keep them together. We can still continue to get better."
Burgmans said she believes the mental aspect of their game can continue to improve.
"Because we are so similar, I think we can improve the most on the mental aspect," Burgmans said. "We need to get a little tougher in pressure situations."
Despite not know what to expect when arriving from the Netherlands, Burgmans now feels at home on the Plains.
"I think I'm very lucky with these people around me," Burgmans said. "Auburn feels like my second family."
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