Article by: Rhiannon Potkey (TennisRecruiting.net) 

REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's tennis team was having dinner together when Maegan Deng called Head Coach Pete Yellico to let him know she had submitted her deposit to the school and would be joining the program in the fall. 

As soon as she hung up the phone, Deng received a call from assistant coach Jake De Vries followed by a stream of text messages from her future teammates. Redlands was the first school to contact the four-star from Torrance, California.

She kept in constant contact with the coaches and they attended nearly all of her matches. Deng went to Redlands during her junior year to watch the team play for the first time.

"They were so welcoming. They were the nicest team and coaches and had the strongest team spirit," she said. "I feel like that was the most important thing for me, because I play tennis more for just the friends and the memories I am going to make than just for victories."

Deng, who recently graduated from Redondo Union High, is the first four-star recruit to ever commit to Redlands.

"I definitely wanted to attend a D3 because of the academic and tennis balance," Deng said. "I don't think I could handle the really hard schedule if it was D1 or D2."

Deng was introduced to tennis at age 9. It was a great way for her to get out of the house and be more adventurous.

"I barely grazed the top of the net when I started because I was so short," said the 5-foot-7 Deng. "It wasn't until around 14 I had a growth spurt. I am taller, but still not as powerful as some players. I have spaghetti arms."

Although she enjoyed workouts and practices, her hunger for victories wasn't at the level of some of her opponents.

"I really hated tournaments. I was always hoping right before the tournament started it would rain or something so I didn't have to play," she said. "I've never been a competitive kid. I didn't really like going to competitions and having to face girls that really wanted to win."

Once she joined her high school team, Deng found her sweet spot.

"I felt like I had motivation then because I was playing for my team. I didn't want to lose anymore for them," she said. "I felt like I played a lot better with team members behind me, knowing I have to win for them. That was a much better environment than for myself."

Deng's parents were badminton players and met playing mixed doubles in Taiwan. They moved to the United States before she was born. Deng never pursued any sports outside of tennis.

"To quote my mom, she didn't want me playing any other sport because she thought I would just shatter because I was so small," Deng said with a laugh. "She said if I did any sport where I wasn't a good couple of feet away from another person, I might have just died right there."

Deng used to be interested in the biomedical field when she was younger. But once she took a media arts class, she changed her future study plans.

"I know that is like a 180-degree turn, but I never really liked or had a knack for science. Doing media arts, I just love how big and creative it was," Deng said. "I want to figure out a way to pursue it more into the business side. I am hoping in film or TV or a media-based field like producing for instance. It would be fun to manage more of the technical business aspect rather than sit in the director's chair."

Deng used to do coding camps and work with robots in her free time. But now she enjoys going out with friends and picking a song from High School Musicalto re-enact.

"We go to some random junk yard and make the whole scene ourselves," Deng said. "I really just like going out and filming whatever I can. It's fun to create things like that."

Deng can't wait to get to Redlands and expand her social circle even more. It's part of what drew her to the university in the first place.

"I was looking for a college that was kind of small and was community driven. I really felt that when I visited Redlands," she said. "It just really feels like one big family there."