By Michael Purtell
Cardinal tennis ended last year at the Binghamton Tennis Complex, when the team was bounced from playoff competition in the final match of its season.
This year, the eight returning athletes will experience the joys of a spring season after taking a win over conference rival Fredonia for the fourth and final playoff spot. It’s the first time the team has qualified for the tournament since 2017.
“Coming back this year, we were just so hungry for it,” head coach Kelci Henn said.
The end-of-season stretch of SUNYAC matches took place over a three-day stretch last week. Plattsburgh (7-4, 2-3) faced conference rivals Oswego (12-1, 4-1) on Wednesday, Oct. 3; Cortland (6-4, 3-2) on Thursday, Oct 4; and Fredonia (4-7, 1-4) on Friday, Oct. 5. The Cardinals lost the first two games 1-6 and defeated Fredonia 4-3.
“I’ve been dreaming about this all four years since I’ve been here,” senior Hallie Hurwitz said. “It’s a dream come true.”
In the first match, the Cardinals’ lone point came from sophomore Jacklin Mitchell in singles #4 where she won 7-5, 6-1. Against Cortland, it was Hurwitz who notched a point for Plattsburgh at #2 singles with a 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 tiebreaker win.
Last year it was the Cardinal’s 4-5 loss to the Fredonia Blue Devils which cost them their fall season. It was the program’s second loss ever to Fredonia. Ending this season with the same matchup, the Cardinals took the win in a dramatic reversal of roles.
All three doubles matches fell in favor of the Cardinals. In singles, Mitchell won #3 singles 6-3, 6-3; senior Sophia Gottschall won #4 singles 6-0, 6-4; and junior Kristy Cantwell took #5 singles 6-3, 6-3.
The stakes of the games established an environment unlike any other this season, but the Cardinals had prepared for that.
“Quoting Billie Jean King, ‘Pressure is privilege,’” Henn said. “We feel the pressure now because we’re so close to making the final four, but we are able to feel that privilege because we’ve played so well.”
Both Henn and multiple members of the team credit the SUNYAC achievement in-part to an improved mental toughness built throughout the season by working with Plattsburgh Hall of Famer Gina (Rosenbaum) Trombley. Trombley is a mental health counselor with a specialization in sports psychology. An alumna of Plattsburgh’s women’s soccer program, Trombley knows how to build the mentality of a winner.
Henn reached out to Trombley after hearing good reviews of her work from Plattsburgh’s softball and women’s soccer staffs.
“It takes a village to build a program,” Henn said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without help from Gina.”
The Cardinals will now enjoy a well-deserved break from conference play, but that doesn’t mean the team will sit on its laurels until April.
“We’re going to be right back into it,” Cantwell said. “We’re really going to practice hard and treat it similar to our fall season.”
That work is the reward for a successful season, especially to the team’s seniors.
“We wanted to win, we wanted to make it into the final four so badly because we love tennis so much and we want to keep playing,” Hurwitz said. “Having achieved that goal means we get to spend more time together and play more tennis, so the team vibe is really good.”
The team is looking into building its spring schedule with out-of-conference matches, keeping the team well-prepared for its debut in the four-team tournament, Henn said. At the behest of her athletes, Henn is targeting high-profile programs such as Skidmore or Union in order to understand how these strong teams have earned their reputation.
“Seeing them all band together through everything that they’ve all experienced is something that I’ve just been really proud of, and they all pushed each other to get to where we are today,” Henn said. “While we’re an individual sport, this was for sure a team effort.”
