{"id":494627,"date":"2026-02-23T18:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/494627\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:44:08","slug":"womens-tennis-focuses-on-longevity-to-maintain-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/494627\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s tennis focuses on longevity to maintain momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a mix of new and old faces, the Ithaca College women\u2019s tennis team is working to push past its growing pains. The Bombers finished last season with a 6-12 record, their third in a row below<\/a> 50%. Now, the team is 3-2 after starting the season, with three back-to-back victories against Hartwick College, Daemen University and Drew University.<\/p>\n

The team is led by second-year head coach Mari Mitchell. Mitchell took to the helm after men\u2019s and women\u2019s head coach Tom Rishcoff transitioned into just coaching the men\u2019s team in 2024. Despite the numbers, Mitchell said she is looking for a repeat of last season\u2019s pacing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a really strong finish, where everybody was peaking at the right time,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe want to model our season after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers went into the Liberty League Championships in May 2025 after winning two of their last three games, their only two in-conference wins of the season. In order to maintain its momentum from the fall matches, the team is focused on longevity.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re working on our conditioning so that we can hold up in the longer matches,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cTennis is a long, grueling sport, so the better in shape we can be, we can be hitting bigger and heavier balls later in the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another area of growth has been improving confidence and cohesion in doubles matches. Junior athlete Madeleine Sutro said her doubles performance has improved from her focus on serves, volleys and her net game in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege has made me appreciate and learn to love doubles more, but I don\u2019t get the adrenaline rush that I get from singles and just being out there,\u201d Sutro said.<\/p>\n

Sutro has won three of her last four doubles matches, contributing to the team\u2019s early win record. She said Mitchell has been mixing up doubles partners during practice with the goal of everyone being able to adapt to and play with different athletes\u2019 styles.<\/p>\n

Junior athlete Aenessa Rylski played doubles with Eliana Chelnick \u201925 last season before partnering with Sutro and junior Ava Casell-Lapetina in the fall. She said that working with each player has meant that she\u2019s able to be aggressive in different ways.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Sutro and I] are both baseline players, so we had different strengths than when I played with Ava [Casell-Lapetina], who\u2019s really good at the net,\u201d Rylski said. \u201cI\u2019m really close, personal friends with them off the court, so it\u2019s fun to be able to compete with them and click in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rylski said she is naturally more confident in singles because that is what she primarily played before college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think about singles as the duration being longer, so I feel like I have to have a good mindset all the way through,\u201d Rylski said. \u201cIn doubles, I need to start strong and keep my confidence up.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year ushered in the addition of three first-year athletes to the roster. Sutro said she has appreciated getting to know her new teammates and their play styles. She said that Mitchell has created an encouraging environment where she makes it clear that she is available to talk to on and off the court.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Mitchell\u2019s] past job coaching high school has translated [at IC],\u201d Sutro said. \u201cShe understands the relationship and bond between young athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team also saw three key players graduate. Taylor Crain \u201925 earned her fourth selection to the All-Liberty League First Team<\/a> for singles, and doubles Second Team with her partner, senior athlete Sabrina Cheung.<\/p>\n

Mitchell said she is expecting junior athlete Alys Pop to step up. Pop received an honorable mention in singles last season, with an overall singles record of 10-7. Pop won her singles and doubles matches during the team\u2019s Feb. 21 meet against the University of Rochester, the only two IC wins of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Pop] is leading the way, and taking over the number one spot,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThat\u2019s brand new for her, and she\u2019s been filling the shoes really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking forward to the Liberty League Championships, the team is fighting to make a run after being eliminated in the first round for three years in a row. Following Mitchell\u2019s emphasis on longevity, Rylski said the players are conscious of keeping their bodies healthy and injury-free throughout the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really tough on our joints,\u201d Rylski said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough mentally to constantly be playing these hour-long matches, and then turn around and play another the next day. \u2026 I hope we peak for [the Liberty League Championship], and that we\u2019re playing the best we ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers will next take the court in Ithaca at 4 p.m. March 6 against the Bloomsburg University Huskies. It will be the first of two weekend matchups before the team starts competing with Liberty League opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a mix of new and old faces, the Ithaca College women\u2019s tennis team is working to push…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[198494,198495,198496,49,48,198497,198498,198499,82,593],"class_list":["post-494627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-aenessa-rylski","tag-alys-pop","tag-ava-casell-lapetina","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ithaca-college-womens-tennis","tag-madeleine-sutro","tag-mari-mitchell","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}