Passing shot from Owen J. Roberts’ Lee earns All-Area honors
Jerry Styer has seen and coached countless players in more than four decades coaching tennis at Owen J. Roberts.
It would be impossible to remember the first time he saw each of them play.
When it comes to Meredith Lee, it’s impossible to forget.
“I first saw her when she was 8 years old. Owen J. Roberts had a Junior Team Tennis-format team back in 2007 that I helped coach,” Styer said. “That year they made the regionals and we were at Arthur Ashe (now Legacy in Philadelphia). Meredith was playing for another team and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She was this little kid playing against high school kids, her face was red, she was dehydrated, playing her heart out.” 
Lee has delivered many more unforgettable moments in the past three years since joining the Owen J. Roberts girls tennis team.
In her first two years of high school tennis, the Owen J. Roberts junior reached the Pioneer Athletic Conference final both years and advanced to the semifinals of the PIAA Class AAA Championships as a sophomore.
This fall, she outdid herself. Lee became the PAC-10 singles champion, unseating three-time champion Mihaela Codreanu of Methacton. She proceeded to reach the District 1-AAA final and made the deepest run at the PIAA Championships of any area player for the second year in a row, earning her Mercury All-Area Girls Tennis Player of the Year honors.
“I saw a big change this year,” Styer said. “The beginning of this season she was stronger, her wrist was stronger and you could see the confidence in it and in the way she was striking her backhand. It was clear she’s taken a step forward. She’s bigger, stronger, smarter. She’s putting it all together.”
Putting it all together didn’t come overnight. Lee has consistently played in USTA junior tournaments since she was 8 and trains multiple times per week to improve her game.
When the high school tennis season rolls around, it isn’t the centerpiece of her tennis year. Instead, for the OJR junior, it’s the fun portion.
“The high school matches and postseason are much less stress than tournament matches,” Lee said, citing the ever-present, ever-changing USTA rankings that affect a top junior player’s status.
“(In high school) I feel like I play more loose, with less stress. The high school postseason is kind of like a bonus, a prize.”
The rivalry between Lee and Methacton senior Codreanu, the All-Area Player of the Year the previous three years, has been a defining one in the PAC-10, two players operating on a different wavelength than the rest of the competition since each joined the high school ranks.
The rivalry was firmly one-sided, though. Codreanu got the better of Lee in their first four meetings while representing their schools, including the 2013 and 2014 PAC-10 singles finals.
No matter the outcome, Oct. 5 was going to be a day unlike any other. Codreanu and Lee were set to meet in the PAC-10 singles final in the morning and take the court against one another again in the afternoon during the postponed team match between Methacton and Owen J. Roberts.
It was a defining day in Lee’s progression.
“I was playing really loosely and it was a day where I didn’t have to think, I was able to just act and hit good shots,” Lee said.
The OJR junior’s all-court game was on full display as Lee used a 6-3, 6-2 victory to dismiss the past letdowns against Codreanu. The afternoon match was less satisfying – Codreanu retired due to illness after three games – but it couldn’t take the shine off for Lee as she capped an unbeaten PAC season without dropping a set. (Her win over Codreanu couldn’t tip the scale in the Wildcats’ favor as Methacton held off OJR 4-3 to retain the PAC-10 team title.)
“It was really exciting. It’s a milestone to beat someone who has always beaten you and usually has a leg up on you,” Lee said. “It doesn’t happen often so you have to cherish it when it does.”
Her commitment to the sport is rooted with coach Marc Pibernat at High Performance Tennis Academy in Bala Cynwynd, where she trains four times a week.
“We do a lot,” Lee said, including her younger sister, Elaina Lee, who featured at No. 2 singles for the Wildcats this season. “A lot of my friends practice with me so it’s extra motivation. And of course I wanted to get better and of course I want to win and you can’t win without practicing.”
That goes without mentioning the USTA junior tournaments. In the past year she has competed in tournaments in Pittsburgh, Virginia, Oklahoma and even Belgium, where the family carved out some time for tennis during their vacation in Europe.
Her dedication has crafted a rare all-court game that flies in the face of the all-baseline, all-the-time groundstroke game most of her contemporaries employ. Lee’s game features a heavy top-spin forehand, one-handed backhand – a rarity even on the WTA tour – slice backhand and comfort inside the court on approach shots and volleys.
She is also involved with the Down the Line and Beyond Foundation – an organization that uses tennis for character-building and outreach – as a Junior Ambassador.
The highly-competitive tournament feel of districts and states is where Lee feels at home.
She took a step forward this season by reaching the District 1-AAA final, getting there without dropping a set.
During the two-week break between the first three rounds of the District 1 tournament and the final, Lee stayed sharp and loose by playing in the Junior Team Tennis 18U Advanced national championships in Cayce, S.C.
“It’s a team we made at the last minute and thought we had a good chance to make nationals. It was a lot of fun: you get to hang out with your friends, play some good tennis and meet a lot of new people from all around the country,” Lee said.
A rematch with Codreanu, the reigning champion, in the District 1 final at Legacy in Philadelphia was a drama-filled, push-and-pull affair between arguably the two best players in PAC history.
“I actually prefer that environment to something more loose,” Lee said. “I find that I’m more focused when I’m intense. My head was really in it.”
Lee led in both sets by being the aggressor and striking her forehand with authority throughout. But the consistency of Codreanu’s groundstrokes won the day, 6-4, 7-5, the Methacton senior claiming a second straight district title.
At the PIAA Championships in Hershey, Lee rolled past Central’s Gabrielle Garrett 6-0, 6-2 and into the quarterfinals only to be drawn into the unenviable place of meeting defending champion Ananya Dua of Shady Side Academy, the player that ended Lee’s sophomore run in the semifinals.
“The tournament really condenses into the hardcore tournament players and that’s when you have to really focus and grind. Second round I had to play Ananya Dua. She has that experience and shots that never fail. She knows how to get it done and you can’t count on her going away.”
After a close first set, Dua asserted herself in the second set and ousted Lee, 6-4, 6-1 before going on to become back-to-back PIAA Class AAA champion.
Lee finished the season 23-3, her only defeats coming to seniors. With another year of eligibility, Lee doesn’t plan on being done with her progression.
“In terms of the state level, a lot of those top players will be gone (through graduation). Hopefully I can place at states this coming year,” Lee said.
She’s already in rare air.
“She’s the best girl. Absolutely,” Styer said when asked where Lee ranks among the players he’s coached. “She’s absolutely head and shoulders above all the girls that have been here.”
