After a stellar senior season as the women’s tennis captain at Harvard University in 1996, Kate Roiter contemplated turning pro and traveling.
“But that changed when I tore my hamstring right after the season. I was offered an assistant coaching job at Yale that fall and I loved it,’’ said the former Weston High tennis and soccer captain, who recently completed her 11th season as head women’s tennis coach at Tufts University.
Married to Jeff Bayard since 2003, she has guided the Jumbos to 10 NCAA Division 3 tournaments. Individually, her players have won two ITA national doubles titles and a national NCAA singles title.
This year’s team finished 12-8 and advanced to the NCAA Division 3 regional final.
“Jeff and I had lived in Medford even before the Tufts job opened up and it’s been a great fit. Helping my players improve and reach their potential in a positive way and to mold them as a team has been very rewarding,’’ said 41-year-old Bayard, a former teaching pro at Longwood Cricket Club and Dedham Country & Polo Club.
Bayard, previously the interim head coach at Yale, and the head coach at Wellesley College and Dartmouth, was hitting tennis balls off the backboard at Longwood as a 2-year-old. Her parents, Stephen and Martha Roiter, who now reside in Quechee, Vt., were Longwood members.
Ranked as high as third nationally in U-12 doubles and 26th in U-16 singles, she teamed with Martha to win the national grass court mother-daughter championships at the Agawam Hunt Club in East Providence, R.I. in 1996.
That same year, the Roiters received the USTA/New England’s Edwin Goodman Family of the Year Award.
Bayard’s father and her brother, Eric, a tennis player at Williams College, were once quarterfinalists at the national father and son tournament.
“Kate wasn’t that big physically,’’ former Weston High athletic director Pete Foley recalled of the 5-foot-3 Bayard who added two inches in height as a collegian.
“But she always brought desire and grit to the tennis court or soccer field. On the court, she could return anything. She was a student of the game, always frustrating her opponents.’’
Bayard majored in sociology at Harvard where she was a four-time first-team All-Ivy selection (three in doubles), a two-year captain and the league’s rookie of the year.
She battled through injuries after playing No 1 singles and doubles her freshman year.
However, Bayard went out in style as a senior, winning all three of her singles matches and her only official doubles match when the Crimson won their first post-season matches in program history, defeating Virginia Tech and Cornell at the NCAA’s.
“Looking back, I don’t focus on the injuries and what might have been,’’ said Bayard, who has two daughters, 5-year-old Hazel and year-old Pearl.
“What I cherish the most was being on such a close-knit Harvard team, the college experience and the opportunity that led me into coaching.’’
Bayard, who also enjoys running and biking, said that playing competitive sports has taught her to “stay in the moment, something I pass on to my team. Don’t focus on the weather, the fans or the end result but only on the point you’re playing right now.’’
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com
