By Collin Bolebruch
Jacklin Mitchell was a standout player for the Plattsburgh women’s tennis team last season. The tennis talent was named SUNYAC Rookie of the Season for her performance in the 2023-2024 season.
Mitchell had a strong start to her sophomore season, winning both her singles games handily. For the opening week of the season, she was named SUNYAC singles Athlete of the Week.
This question-and-answer was conducted with Jacklin over email Sept. 11.
Question: What have been the biggest differences you’ve noticed between going from a 14-person roster to eight?
Answer: Everyone on the team has had to step up a good amount to take bigger roles considering the amount we have and who we lost from the previous year. We do feel small sometimes but it has only made us closer, and the closer we are, we can have much more support for one another to push us forward this season.
Jacklin has been paired with fellow sophomore Ava Carey forher entire collegiate career. See her Ask an Athlete [Click on the Picture] Collin Bolebruch
A: The environment around the back-to-back singles matches in Binghamton is by far one of the most important parts of the season and it is definitely stressful being able to watch your opponents play out other teams before we play them. In a way it helps though because we are able to see the way that the other teams play. Over the course of those days it gets super tiring after the back-to-back matches but I believe our team’s energy will beat that and give us a second wave to come out strong.
Q: Tennis has the highest percentage of local players on its roster — how has it been playing at a level with women you have maybe competed against?
A: Thinking back to high school, I don’t remember playing any of my teammates now because we only played one position that we usually stuck with for most of the season. You could only play either singles or doubles, not both unfortunately. Coming into tennis my freshman year, it was really nice knowing there were other locals, just because maybe I knew what to expect. Also it is great being able to play with my teammates over the summer right at our home courts, almost like we never left.
Q: What is the best piece of tennis advice you’ve received? What would you tell someone who wants to pick up the racket?
A:. Tennis is a lifetime sport, you can play it almost your whole life and it is truly such a fun sport. I have had many friends that I have asked to play with me even if they have never touched a racket before and it’s always such a fun time because it just makes them wanna learn and get better. Tennis is also such a mental game: It took me years to figure out how to keep composure on the court and sometimes it can still get to me, but it only makes you stronger during the game. Some days you can play to the best of your ability and maybe the next day it is a complete switch-up and everything you hit is going into the net and outside the lines. But I strongly believe if you take it slow and tell yourself you can do it, everything goes smoothly.
