There is a good chance that Boise State senior tennis player Stacey Housley won't finish the last match of her collegiate career.
And it is not because of the bone spurs in her foot that she's had for 1 years that force her to wear a walking boot when she's not on the court.
It is her style of play, which is designed to frustrate and wear down opponents.
That takes time, which often means other matches are completed while Housley is still "grinding it out" on the court.
In tournament play, including Friday's first-round NCAA Tournament match against Kentucky in Nashville, Tenn., courts that are in progress are stopped once a team has clinched the overall match by winning four of a possible seven points.
Housley didn't finish any of her matches at last month's WAC Tournament, though she was leading in all three when play was stopped.
"I am prepared to stay out there and hit 1,000 balls and hopefully drive the other girl insane," Housley said.
She compares her game to a football team with a good defense.
"My D-line is pretty solid," she said. "Maybe I can get a D-line shirt. I should ask one of the guys (on the football team)."
The strategy has worked wonders for the Auckland, New Zealand, native who is 29-5 this season after going 29-7 as a junior. Housley has a 78-24 record in her BSU career.
"She's been a rock the last two years," BSU coach Mark Tichenor said. "She's done a phenomenal job."
Housley has played most of her career at No. 5 and No. 6 singles for the Broncos, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second season in a row as an at-large selection after finishing second in the WAC.
Her record suggests that maybe Housley should be playing higher in the lineup. But Tichenor continually has upgraded the talent on the BSU roster, keeping Housley in her current spots. She'll play No. 5 singles against Kentucky.
"There are different talent levels on every team," Tichenor said. "Stacey has to work very hard to get all of her talent out. Some girls maybe have more natural talent."
You'll get no argument from Housley, who quickly points out that Bianca Jochimsen, Polina Kokoulina, Klaudia Wlodarczyk and Pichittra Thongdach belong ahead of her in the BSU lineup.
"I'm definitely not a big hitter like some of those girls - they are out there to hit winners and hit a lot of clean shots," Housley said. "I'm just going to grind with you and wear you down, hopefully."
Housley has been at the top of a lineup before, just not at BSU. She started her collegiate career at Liberty University in Virginia.
She played No. 1 and 2 singles on a team that was the dregs of the Division I ranks.
"There is no way I should have been playing that high up," said Housley, who transferred because she wanted to play for a better program and didn't like the emphasis on religion at Liberty.
She sent an e-mail to Tichenor in 2004 asking if there was interest. There was, and Housley committed without visiting BSU after an in-person meeting with the coach in California.
The fact that she is playing at all says a lot about Housley.
When she was 17, she was involved in a serious automobile accident in New Zealand that left her back broken in three places and prevented her from playing for two years.
"I wasn't able to walk for a little bit," she said. "I still play with those (injuries) and we just manage them. You do what you have to do - that's how much I love to play tennis."
Her collegiate career likely will end this weekend, unless the Broncos can upset Kentucky and then likely 11th-ranked Vanderbilt on Saturday.
"This is just gravy," Housley said. "I couldn't have asked for anything more than the last three years I've had here."
