2 weeks Ago By Max O'Neill
JAMESTOWN — The process of getting the inaugural University of Jamestown women’s tennis team off the ground is well underway, and one of the first steps is filling out the team. “It’s gone really well,” Jimmies head coach Cameron Jackson said. “It’s tough getting eight players in the short amount of time.
Coming in after Christmas break was tough because it felt like half the girls in the world had already picked a school. So trying to get girls when so many have already picked schools is tough but it’s gone well, we’ve now signed six, we’re shooting for eight. I’m in talks with a few more so overall it’s been really well.
” ADVERTISEMENT While Jackson said he is hoping to get between six and 15 players, he is hoping to get eight to have a match day lineup of six players and then two alternates. As of Monday, April 21, the program has six players committed. The first-ever player to make the jump and pledge to the program is Sydney Friesen, who committed on Feb.
20. Before she committed to the Jimmies, Friesen said she was looking at George Fox University (Oregon) and Concordia University (Texas). “It’s a crazy idea honestly.
It doesn’t even seem real that that’s gonna be a historic thing,” Friesen said. “It seems crazy to me. But I’m really excited for the team and the year and I’m so excited that I was able to have this opportunity.
” Friesen said she was drawn in by the fact that Jackson told her he wants his players to be good people before they are good tennis players. Jackson said Friesen reached out to him before he reached out to her and told him of her interest in being part of the program. “I had lots of research done on lots of schools and just talking to the coach it made me so excited to work with someone like him,” Friesen said.
“I asked him how he is gonna coach us the best he can as the first year and not having a team before and his response made me so excited to work with someone like him.” When they start play, Friesen and her teammates will be the 11th member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. While there is obvious pressure heading into an already established conference, Friesen welcomes it with open arms.
ADVERTISEMENT “I honestly enjoy that we’re starting from scratch basically,” Friesen said. “I feel like it’s gonna bring the team closer together in the end, just having girls, this is a new experience for us all. I’m really excited for us to come together and use that.
I think in competition, seeing as it’s a new program, we’re gonna come in as underdogs and I think we can use that to our advantage and really show that we’re from scratch, we’ll work through the season, we’ll show that we’re underdogs and we can use that the best way possible.” Since she committed, Friesen said she has had preliminary conversations with the other recruits in a group chat but she is excited to meet them in person and start playing with them. Friesen is currently a freshman at Orange Coast College (California) and has nine singles wins this year.
She has also helped her team to a 17-2 overall record as of Monday. “I’ve played high school as well and on the college level the amount of commitment that is involved, the strength of pressure that you’re put under and the aspects of just your teammates, it’s more of a community on a college level team,” Friesen said. “In terms of playing, experience wise I think being able to simply play doubles and singles back-to-back, having experience with that will definitely come forward and help because in high school it was just singles or doubles .
.. Just the amount of pressure that you’re in in a college match, it feels almost professional.
” Friesen is the only one of the six players committed who is coming from a junior college rather than a high school. “It will help a lot, regardless of whatever position she’ll fall in, it will help a lot from just little things to bus rides,” Jackson said. “It’s gonna help our team a lot.
It will be nice for her to say things like, ‘Typically, we would do things this way.’ I think it’ll help the girls feel really good when they go into their first matches and stuff like that.” Friesen said she feels the Jimmies program is exactly where she needs to be in order for her work ethic and her game to continue to grow and develop.
She said she is hoping Jackson will help her get better in high-pressure situations. ADVERTISEMENT Jackson said by being the first ever commit Friesen has showed her leadership ability and that she will also bring experience to the team. “I have a lot of variety in my shots,” Friesen said.
“I’m not just a one-shot player, I can do a lot on the court and I’m very fast and I can get a lot of balls back. I have a pretty strong forehand and that is one of my strengths for sure.”.
