Eagle Extra: Mitsuki Koh, Women's Tennis

By: Rose Lucidi
Sports Information Intern
lucidrx10@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net

HUNTINGDON, Pa. Sophomore Mitsuki Koh (Cupertino,Calif./Monta Vista) is getting ready to go into her second tennis season as an Eagle. During her freshman year at Juniata College Koh went 3-3 in singles play and 13-8 with her doubles partner sophomore Tori Gray (York, Pa./Central York).

Koh was originally from Japan and then moved to California for her junior year of high school. The transition from Japan to the Golden State was a bumpy road. When she moved to California, she did not speak very much English. By the time she graduated high school, she was ready to find a small liberal arts school to continue her education.

"I was looking at schools that were under 2,000 students and Juniata College came up on my search," said Koh.

Two of the main things she concentrated were class size, and the ability to play tennis. Koh has been playing tennis with her family since a young age. She got serious with playing tennis when she played for her middle school team.

"In my middle school, you had to pick a club you wanted to be apart of, and one of those options was tennis," said Koh. "So I picked tennis because I wanted to play a sport, and it was the only one that I could play."

Koh also played badminton along with tennis in high school. She knew that she wanted to continue playing tennis at the collegiate level. She is the president of power up Gambia and an active member within nourish international.

Power up Gambia's mission is to provide reliable, responsible electricity and water to health facilities in the Gambia to help increase access to health care. This club educates the Juniata community about how they can help and then try to fundraise for the cause. Nourish international is a global movement through which students make a sustainable impact on extreme poverty and create opportunities for change. Koh helps with a lot of fundraisers such as selling handcrafts from Ecuador.

When Koh was asked how she manages tennis and all her activities she replied with " tennis is actually my stress reliever. If I studied all the time I think I would go crazy."

Rapid Fire:

Favorite band/artist?
Classical music and Jazz.

Favorite shoes?
I like my boots now because of the cold weather.

Favorite item in your dorm room?
Pictures that I have brought from home.

One thing you couldn't go a day without?
Drinking tea in the morning otherwise I cannot get up.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I wish I could see some of my friends from Japan.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I want to go to South Africa.

If you could be any animal (car, vegetable, etc.), what would you be and why?
Dog because they are friendly. 

If you could be an Olympic athlete (in anything other than your sport) what would it be?
I wish I could do figure skating.

Favorite class at JC?
I like any class that is taught by Nagengast.

Favorite place in Huntingdon?
Juniata.

Favorite Juniata Tradition?
Mountain Day.

Favorite athletic experience at JC?
I really like the Spring Break trip with the team.

If you could trade places with one JC athlete, who would it be and why?
I would be any volleyball student-athlete. That is a sport that I am not very good at and wish I could do what they do on the court.

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