Northampton girl’s tennis coach Phoebe Gelbard describes Jeanne Mei Mangan Larouche’s play with a lot of words: strong, reliable, calm, unshakeable. But one sticks out when she’s talking about her freshman No. 1’s playing style – effortless.
“Overall just across her game, it’s really smooth and fun to watch. It looks really effortless to see her play,” Gelbard said.
Her dominance is even more impressive because Mangan Larouche is still just a freshman on a Blue Devils team that was loaded with 12 seniors. While it may look easy to everyone watching, Mangan Larouche puts in a lot of work to keep her skills at an elite level.
“Typically, I actually usually get up around four in the morning and I go and practice for an hour and a half to two hours,” she said. “Then I get back home and then I go out at four and then I go practice for an hour and a half or two hours – partially because my dad, he works a regular job, so he can’t take off the time in the middle of the day.”
Mangan Larouche first picked up a racket when she was about five years old and has never put it back down. She competes year-round in USTA matches against tough competition. She’s currently the No. 13 recruit in the state of Massachusetts per tennisrecruiting.net, and is ranked No. 29 in the New England region. She’s coached by her father Dino Larouche, who used to coach professionally when he was younger before taking a different job. He’s kept a handful of students, including his daughter.
“I have a really good relationship with him. I think tennis is a really hard sport, it can get really frustrating,” Mangan Larouche said. “But you always know that at the end like you know, they have your best interests in mind.”
As she works on moving her way up the ranks, Mangan Larouche is always looking to add more tools to her tennis arsenal. Her serves and ball placement are second to none, so she’s been focusing her attention on other things. That was on display during her win during Northampton’s Western Massachusetts Class B Final against Ludlow, where she won her match handily 6-1, 6-0 with an aggressive playing style close to the net that stymied her opponents. What she’s proudest of, though, is her one-handed topspin backhand that she’s been honing for several years.
“I was trying to hit a lot more one-handed backhand topspin. I’m one of the only people who hit a one handed topspin backhand, and I actually made the switch when I was like 11 or 12. So I’ve been trying to work on that,” Mangan Larouche said. “It’s been a huge deal, actually. It’s been in the works for like four years. I’m just kind of starting to have it really kind of work itself out in my game. It’s really tough to do it. But I think it’ll pay off – it’s really beautiful to look at.”
As she sharpens her individual skills, Mangan Larouche also talked about how much she enjoyed being part of Northampton’s team this past season. The Blue Devils qualified for the MIAA Division 2 tennis tournament, and made it all the way to the Western Mass finals as well before falling in a 3-2 heartbreaker to Ludlow. The time she gets to spend with her teammates on the bus and at matches made the season a fulfilling time for her.
“Individual tennis is very personal, and (with) the team it was really nice to see my classmates a lot more at a lot of the matches,” Mangan Larouche said. “We can grow more of a friendship, and it’s more of a team sort of situation that I was able to learn from and grow from than when I play individually.
Samantha Baker, junior, Frontier
Emma Clancy, senior, Frontier
Roxana Clauson, senior, Northampton
Sofia DaSila-Askew, eighth grade, Amherst
Charlotte Kelly, senior, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School
Camille Richmond, senior, Northampton
Sarah Ryan, senior, Northampton
Sydney Scanlon, junior, Frontier
Ava Shea, sophomore, Belchertown
Brooke Burrows, sophomore, Belchertown
Gaby Carr, senior, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School
Amber Drummond, junior, Belchertown
Kasey Gibbons, sophomore, Belchertown
Rebekah Hong, senior, Amherst
Keegan Kukucka, senior, Holyoke
Grace Loughrey, senior, South Hadley
Maddie Powers, Frontier
Allie Osman, Amherst
Daniella Sherman, Amherst