STONY BROOK, N.Y. — As the 2019-20 women's tennis season opened last fall, the Missouri Valley Conference sent Stony Brook's Jamie Wei to the posh Malibu Racquet Club in California to represent the league at the prestigious Oracle ITA Masters.

Wei had an inspiring experience, even in defeat.

The Stony Brook tennis star drew the University of North Carolina's Alexa Graham — the nation's fourth-ranked player — in the 32-competitor bracket's opening round.

After dropping the first set 6-0, Wei took Graham to the brink the next set before falling 7-6 (4).

Five months later, Graham defeated defending NCAA singles champion and No. 1-ranked Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami. It was one of Graham's nine wins against ranked players during the abbreviated 2019-20 season.

"The first set literally was less than 20 minutes," Wei said. "But the second set was so close. I almost thought I had it. It was super cool to play with players like that. It showed me how much I can improve. Even though I thought I was doing well at Stony Brook, it just opened my eyes and let me see how there are so many better players out there."

The bar raised, Wei — only a sophomore last season — acquitted herself quite well as Stony Brook's No. 1 player the remainder of the academic year.

She won the Missouri Valley's first-flight singles and doubles titles last October, the latter partnering with Sasha Bekoriva.

"Jamie was on a mission last fall at the MVC Individual Championships," Stony Brook coach Gary Glassman said. "It was important for her to firmly establish herself as the best player in the league. She definitely sent the proper message."

Glassman recruited Wei, a native of Chiayi City, Taiwan, after spotting her at a showcase held at the University of South Florida.

Wei was making her third trip to the United States at the time. She first had visited when her father Cougar, now a general in the Taiwanese Air Force, was training with his U.S. counterparts in Arizona. She subsequently had visited Louisiana for tennis.

"Having the opportunity to watch Jamie play at the College Exposure Camp at USF was tremendous," Glassman said. "You could tell right away that she's a special player. Elite players strike it so cleanly and they do it consistently. The ball just comes off of Jamie's racket a little differently." 

A psychology major, Wei intends to pursue a sports psychology or child psychology degree in graduate school after her graduation from Stony Brook in a couple of years.

"I have always been very interested in sports psych," Wei said. "Coaches ask athletes to push through pain, which I understand, because pushing through and fighting through pain is one of the ways to be the best. But the truth is it's OK to not be OK sometimes. Sometimes athletes just need time to calm down and breathe, because being an athlete can be overwhelming. This is a field I feel like people need to take more seriously."

The 2020 Oracle ITA Masters has been modified this fall into a highly select open event amidst the continued effects of COVID-19. So Wei will not have an opportunity to return and make a statement.

She still fondly recalls her experience a year ago, which demonstrated to her the next level she needs to achieve.

"It was super, super cool," Wei said. "The intensity was so high because they were all very, very high-level players."