Alumni Highlight: Zac Bowers

By Adam Kelly

Towards the beginning of this semester, I had the chance to catch up with an old teammate of mine, Zac Bowers. Now working as the Director of Admissions and Marketing for Southern Virginia, Bowers originally graduated from the University back in 2019.

What brought Bowers to Southern Virginia University all those years ago? Tennis. Bowers shared with me his passion for the sport, explaining his love for tennis that he found at a young age.

“I first started tennis at a camp in middle school. I’d been looking to switch sports and instantly fell in love with tennis. I love that it’s up to you, and you alone to win. You can’t have a bad day, and it’s great training for life. Teams are important, but at the end of the day, you have to learn to trust yourself in thought moments. That’s what tennis teaches you.”

Bowers had many big wins over all divisions of NCAA opponents. But to him, the most memorable was a win over a DI doubles team from the University of Richmond. It was matches like the previous that set the tennis team up to improve every year Zac was there. Since then, the tennis program has had many accolades including a regional ranking for the first time in 2019 and a national ranking in 2021.

In regards to Bowers’ tennis success, he stated the following,

“In order to feel successful, people shouldn’t focus too much on what other people think of them. Real happiness and success is staying true to yourself.”