CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee senior and SWBL Buckeye Division first singles tennis champion Brooklyn Hubbard signed a letter of intent to continue her tennis career at Indiana East University during a signing ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Preble Shawnee High School.
After an outstanding senior year in which Hubbard was one of three players on the Arrow roster to finish the season as SWBL Buckeye champion, she will join the Red Wolves’ program.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to play in college,” she said. “But as my season was getting near the end I knew I would miss playing and had a visit at IU East and just fell in love with the atmosphere there.”
Hubbard said a day of playing tennis with IUE head coach Erskine Ratchford made her decision an easy one.
“He was so nice the day we hit together,” she said. “He made me really comfortable — I already really liked the campus, so for me, I kind of knew then I wanted to continue my career and get better learning from him.”
Hubbard believes the Red Wolves will be adding an aggressive, competitive player to their program. “I’m going to bring aggression and an aggressive style of play,” she said. “It was so much fun to win so many matches this year, as a team and an individual, so I really want that to continue. But I know I have to bring the right attitude and work ethic to try to make that happen.”
Hubbard also believes IUE was the right place for her education. “It’s small, and it has small class sizes which I really like,” she said of the Richmond-based campus.
Hubbard is currently planning on majoring in business marketing.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to major in until I started doing research on marketing degrees and realized it was something I could really see myself doing,” she said.
Hubbard said she is most looking forward to getting a chance to play competitively again. “I’m really excited to continue playing tennis competitively — like I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to play in college but now that I am, I’m just really excited to be able to keep playing the sport I love.”
