Regina Urbiola's road to Norfolk State ran through Montgomery, a Texas border crossing and a third-set heartbreak in Cary. This month in Atlanta, it ran through everybody.

She was already warming up.

It was Feb. 20, and Norfolk State had made the drive to Greenville, North Carolina, to play East Carolina. Regina Urbiola was loose, hitting, a few minutes from walking onto the court for one of her first matches as a Spartan. Then head coach Piotr Banas' phone rang.

It was NSU's international office. She couldn't play.

"It was mostly problems with immigration," Banas said. "It was crazy."

The Spartans won without her, 4-3. Getting her back on the court was the harder part. Urbiola flew to South Texas, crossed the border into Mexico, turned around, crossed back into Texas to get the stamp her passport needed, and flew back to Virginia, all so she could play two days later.

"That was some crazy, crazy experience," Banas said.

It was the start of her Norfolk State career. It was not the hardest thing she'd do in it.

Atlanta

At the 25th annual HBCU National Tennis Championships, the hardest thing was the weather.

At the South Fulton Tennis Center, Urbiola walked out every morning into air that felt like a wet towel.

"It was so humid, so hot every day," she said. "I was sweating a lot. It was difficult to play under the hot sun. Recovering and beating the heat was, I would say, the biggest challenge for me."

She came in as the No. 1 seed in Flight A singles, and the heat made her earn it. She got through the quarterfinals and the semifinals by winning a deciding tiebreak each time, first against Alabama State's Kesmat El Tawil and then against Xavier Univ. of Louisiana's Maja Brnic, both by 10-5 in the third.

She had to win two matches in a row on one final sprint. After that, she didn't need another one. She won Sunday morning's final 6-1, 6-3 over Howard's Franchesca Brown.

"As the days kept going on and I was playing, I felt like I was playing better every single day," she said. "So I was prepared for the big moments."

The doubles final was a different kind of pressure. Urbiola and Yana Klimchuk were the No. 2 seeds, and the team across the net was the top seed: their own teammates, Julia Daroszewska and Yuliya Yurkova. Urbiola and Klimchuk won 7-5.

"We knew that we had the chance to get to the final against each other," Urbiola said. "The pressure was still there, but at least it was fun. It was good to see that we can have a good level even in a serious match, like a tournament, not only in practice."

Norfolk State left Atlanta with three individual titles. Urbiola won two of them, and Irina Iurea took the third in Flight C singles. Banas admits he didn't see that one coming. Iurea hadn't competed in months. "I had no expectation," he said, "and then she goes and she wins the whole bracket."

When the points were counted, Norfolk State had 82, winning the team title by 18 over Howard.

"It's a really big accomplishment," Urbiola said. "Not only me winning it, but also the team being able to win it. It's so big for us."

Why Norfolk

Urbiola is from Querétaro, Mexico, and came to Norfolk State from Auburn University at Montgomery. She arrived in the middle of the academic year, which meant a new school, a new team and a new city all at once, with the season already underway.

What sold her started with a phone call.

"Since the beginning, talking with Coach Piotr, all the facilities that they have, how he talked about NSU, it was attractive for me," she said. "And I was seeing the results of the team."

The adjustment wasn't easy, and she doesn't pretend it was.

"It was tough, I would say," she said. "But I knew what I was coming for. I knew that I had to fulfill expectations."

She fulfilled them fast. By late March, she was the MEAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week after a perfect weekend at the MEAC Tennis Round Up, where she went 4-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles. By the end of her first spring, she and Yurkova had both been named First Team All-MEAC.

Asked where she's grown most, she doesn't point to a shot.

"My experience on the court. I feel much more confident now," she said. "I went through tough moments on the court last semester. But having the support of my team and Coach Piotr is great."

Five-one

One of those tough moments is the reason she talks about next spring the way she does.

Three days after the All-MEAC announcement, Norfolk State's season ended in Cary, North Carolina, with a 4-3 loss to top-seeded Morgan State in the MEAC Championship match. The title came down to one court, and it was Urbiola's.

She dropped a tight second-set tiebreak, then went up 5-1 in the third set before Morgan State's Amira Bargaoui came back to win it 7-5 and clinch the championship.

Five-one. One game from serving for a conference title.

She doesn't dwell on it. She just doesn't hide from it either.

"Last semester, we came up short," she said. "So for us, the goal right now is to actually win the conference. We know that we have chances. We missed them last semester, but next semester, I think we'll be ready for it."

Off the court

Urbiola didn't start out as a tennis player. She started out chasing a different ball.

"I was a soccer player growing up," she said. "I retired from soccer at 13 and started playing tennis."

If she could play any other sport? "I would go for sure for soccer again."

Her dream doubles partner is Roger Federer. "I think he's an icon in tennis," she said. "I really like his personality, how he plays."

Away from the courts, she's usually with her teammates. "We're always together," she said. Movies, series, puzzles, sometimes cooking and baking. Asked what might surprise people about her, she offers something that, given the last year, might be the most surprising thing of all.

"I think I'm pretty chill," she said. "I like to have fun, not stress too much about life, and enjoy the moment being here."

Her coach enjoys the show. Banas says traveling with the women's team is like going to the theater, with every trip a different experience.

"When I travel with the women, I feel like I learn more from them than they learn from me," said Banas.

Back to Cary

The MEAC Individual Championships are next, in the same town where last season ended. Banas' biggest complaint is that he can only enter two singles players.

"I feel like we have so much depth right now that if four of our players were playing, we could easily have four players in the semifinal," he said. Then he caught himself. "But let's stay humble, right? Because you never know."

Urbiola sounds about the same.

"It's not only me trying to win it. It's also my teammates," she said. "It's just another tournament. We have to face it like a serious event, and let's hope for the best."

Something else is coming, too. Banas says the project to resurface the Spartans' courts has been approved, and he credits athletic director Dr. Melody Webb for it. "When I came here, I wouldn't even dream about that," he said. The current courts play slow, and he wants the new ones faster, closer to what his team sees on the road and in the conference.

Faster courts, a deeper roster, two national titles already won this fall, and a 5-1 lead she still hasn't finished.

Urbiola knows adversity will show up again. She isn't worried about it.

"The support from family, coaches, friends," she said, "and the confidence that I have in myself that even if there's adversity, I'm still strong enough to get through it."

Her pitch to fans is short.

"Come support," she said. "It's fun. You'll have fun watching us."