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The opponent was Jacqueline Soloveychik of Wesleyan, who specialized in ball retrieval, spin, and defense, exactly the things that a power hitter like Eisenman doesn’t have time for. As Soloveychik kept running Eisenman from corner to corner, Eisenman knew that, on this day, time would not fly.

“She chipped every forehand,” Eisenman said this fall while lounging inside Roberts Pavilion. “She didn’t miss a single one. A true grinder. I don’t personally like playing like that. I don’t want to be out there for three hours, playing long points.

“The plan was to be patient and attack her forehand. So, in the second set, I had two match points. And a string broke on one of them, and she wound up winning the set. I was super-discouraged. I was gassed, too. Not in a good head space.”

“I saw this a lot when she was in juniors,” said Doug Eisenman, Lindsay’s dad and personal coach. “She’d get frustrated in matches like that. I wasn’t optimistic.”

It was time for Eisenman to play the set of her life, at least so far. She trailed 2-0. Then she pulled even, and turned Soloveychik’s 40-15 lead in the ninth game into a service break. Eisenman won, 6-1, 6-7, and 6-4, and in the spring of 2026, she’ll go for another national championship as a senior.

“Somehow,” she said, “I managed to pull it out. I left everything on the court.”

“She persevered like she’d never done before,” added Doug. “It was great that she did it in a match that was so important.”

The celebration was brief. Lindsay had one day to get everything together before she began her internship in San Francisco. She is majoring in Science Management, with an emphasis on Data Science that, she said, is designed to lead her into the pharmaceutical or technology space.

Photo courtesy of CMS Athletics

“I don’t fully understand what she’s doing myself,” Doug said, laughing. “But I’d say she’s certainly prepared herself well.”

Lindsay grew up in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Doug, who works in wealth management, was a successful doubles player. At the University of California, Berkeley, he and Matt Lucena won the NCAA doubles title in 1990. Doug and Mark Knowles then reached the second round at Wimbledon, followed by a run with Donald Johnson to the third round at the U.S. Open.

When it was time to teach Lindsay, Doug had seen all the things not to do. He also knew Lindsay’s schedule. So, they would hit balls every day, but only for 90 minutes at the most. More intensity equaled better efficiency. Because of her schedule, Lindsay also wanted to stay closer and play at the nearby Peninsula Racquet Club, even though that meant less kids and stronger competition. Doug was impressed but not surprised.

Lindsay devoted another hour of her daily routine to piano practice. At recitals, a panel of teachers and performers would judge her.

“It’s not like tennis,” Eisenman said. “You have one chance. It’s a short performance, five to 10 minutes, and if you mess up once, you’re kind of done. In tennis, you have a bunch of opportunities to make up for mistakes, so piano stressed me out way more than tennis. It was really good for me to face that.

“Honestly, when I think about all the things I was doing in high school, I don’t know how I handled it all. Fortunately, I always loved learning. I’d hear kids talk about how they didn’t like going back to school, and I never felt that.”

Tennis became more enjoyable once Eisenman chose CMC. High school players aren’t just competing with each other. They’re fighting the Universal Tennis Rating. If the numbers say you should win a match 6-1, 6-1 and you only win 6-3, 6-4, that isn’t good for your rating. Since college coaches use that as a barometer, Eisenman could never just cruise to victory.

She relaxed more when she got to college. Even though she was playing in the No. 6 slot on a six-player team in her first year, she contributed to the 2023 Athenas team title. Eisenman won 20 of 21 singles matches that season and was 20-0 in doubles. In 2024, she assumed the No. 1 spot and won 18 of 24 matches in singles. In three years, she is 55-13.

“She didn’t complain about where she was playing,” said David Schwarz, head coach of CMS women’s tennis. “She just put her head down and worked extremely hard. Over the years, she’s become more of a leader by example.”

“I thought about some schools back East. They were beautiful, but that was in the summertime,” Eisenman said. “I had an uncle, (Dana ’92), who went to CMC, and a cousin who went to Scripps. It was just the right combination. The athletic facilities are great here and yet the emphasis is always on school.”

After her NCAA title defense and graduation in 2026, she faces a new life and new clocks. Fortunately, Eisenman already is a master of time.

—Mark Whicker