On the long drive towards a competition for the Southwestern University Pirates men's tennis team, senior Alexander Joseph stares intently at the screen in front of him, scouring through video for an advantage in his upcoming match.
His playlist includes film of his opponent, downloading tendencies in his mind so on the court it becomes instinct. Joseph also pours over video of himself, scrutinizing every misstep or swing in a perpetual effort to refine his game. Finally, there's film of the greats, like Roger Federer, looking to tap into everything that makes them special.
"For Alex, tennis is 24 hours, non-stop," Head Coach Billy Porter said. "It's infectious in a way that bleeds through the rest of the team."
Joseph arrived at Southwestern at the beginning of the last academic year, a junior transfer from NCAA Division II St. Mary's University in San Antonio. That same year, the Pirates welcomed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history at No. 16 in the nation, featuring Hunter Bajoit, Carlos Esteban Rodero, Vesko Lekovic, and Max Pearson.
More important than the influx of talent was an infusion of culture from Joseph and the Pirates' now sophomore class.
"This year and last, we've had a motivated team that works at the level needed to be a nationally-ranked team," Porter said. "We've always been talented but never really loved tennis the way we do now. That's changed.
"They love tennis to a point where we've had to sit some of them down and suggest they take other interests in life. They're really hungry and motivated. The key will be if they're willing to do it the way it needs to be done."
That drive has elevated a team that already had talent in senior All-American Alexis Dimanche and senior Dean Dulthummon. Both are closing in on Class of 2017 Niko Snovely's career wins record of 123 victories with an internal competition to see who ends up atop the list.
Dulthummon has posted a career record of 110-48 through his first three years at Southwestern while Dimanche sits at 111-54, working almost exclusively at the No. 1 spot.
"I think [Dimanche] has accomplished a lot of what he's wanted to individually," Porter said. "For him to be an All-American in singles and make it to the NCAAs, that's important but I think his focus and drive is to get us a team title, so we're going to lean on him."
Dimanche is the favorite to remain in the Pirates' No. 1 spot but challengers do wait in the wings, showing the level of depth on the roster.
"Hunter has never beaten him in practice but had a really good year last year at the No. 2 spot and is capable," Porter said. "Alex has beaten him a couple of times in practice and Vesko can challenge him. It'll be hard, though."
More important than the No. 1 spot in the lineup is finding a way to finish first in the conference, where Trinity has had a stranglehold with 10 consecutive conference championships after defeating Southwestern 5-0 last season.
As talented as Trinity is, in some ways the Pirates can be their own worst enemy at times. Talent and dedication run through the roster but discipline can sometimes stop the Pirates from accessing their full potential.
"Talent is not the issue," Porter said. "It's having the mindset, the approach, and discipline to do all the little things that add up to being successful.
"It's everything from coming to practice or matches prepared, having rackets strung, and being ready to work on time, to placing their serve the way their [doubles] partner tells them to or reacting to the placement of a serve. We need all the little things to add up instead of relying solely on physical talent."
Lacking in the little details is how a team could pull off big wins against nationally-ranked opponents in singles but fall to lesser opponents in doubles. It's how a talented player like Lekovic can go toe-to-toe with an All-American in one match and struggle with an inferior opponent the next.
"I'm very confident in our singles and very confident in our willingness and hunger to win," Porter said. "Sometimes, though, the hardest things to do are the easiest ones and that's the gap we need to close."
The Pirates opened this fall with the theme "locked in," and quickly showed big strides in key areas, putting three players into the singles' quarterfinals and three teams into the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA Fall Regional, including the pairing of Bajoit and newcomer Hemanshu Rambojun, who advanced to the ITA Fall Regionals Doubles Championship match, defeating Trinity's Jordan Pitts and Cameron Krimbill before losing to McMurry's Carlos Martinez and Chase Daniell.
"Our doubles looked much better. We'd never had more than one team in the quarterfinals and we had three make it this year," Porter said. "And in the spring, we'll get Carlos Esteban Rodero back, who played No. 1 doubles for us last year, so we'll see where he fits in."
Last year, the Pirates' goal was to move from the 30s in the national rankings to somewhere in the 20s, climbing to as high as No. 28 before finishing at 30. This season, Southwestern faces a slate of nationally-ranked teams, giving it an opportunity to solidify its standing if it can maintain discipline.
"We're very fortunate the university invested in men's tennis year, giving us a second trip to California," Porter said. "The schedule this year allows us to move into the top 25 range but the bottom line is, if they can't capitalize on a few of these opportunities, we won't deserve to move up."
The Pirates' first trip to California will be crucial with matches against Redlands (18) and the California Institute of Technology (24) in February. In March, Southwestern returns to California for matches against Denison University (26), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (2), and Whitman College (27).
After that, the Pirates return home for a match against Kalamazoo (29) and eventually will close out the regular season hosting Trinity (13).
"They know they're going to have more than one shot this year," Porter said. "We'll probably win some of them, we'll probably lose some. It's just a matter of how we play that day but everything is there for them."