Junior Aneta Miksovska first started playing tennis at 5 years old in her hometown of Stramberk, Czech Republic.

Miksovska is an international student like all her teammates on the WSU tennis team. After moving to this school, Miksovska had to make several adjustments to a collegiate playing style, such as learning how to stop playing tennis as an individual and how to play as part of a team.

“Before I came [to WSU], I always cared about how [I]played, if I played good, if I played bad,” Miksovska said. “Now [I’ve] switched. For me, now the biggest thing is to win, and I don’t care how. It’s just if I win it’s good for the team, and who cares if … at the end of the day you get the w.”

Head Coach Lisa Hart said Miksovska leads by example and has a winning personality paired with a strong work ethic.

“[Miksovska] is just the perfect all-around student athlete, she does everything she’s asked of and then more. She’s just kind of, a winner in life,” Hart said. “She’s just a tough kid. When she’s sore, when she’s tired or when she’s hurt, she always presses through. One of our biggest challenges with [Miksovska] is to make sure she doesn’t push herself too much.”

Miksovska credited Hart as being the deciding factor in joining WSU. She said that she talked to Hart during the recruiting process over Skype.

She posted a recruiting video on YouTube that she sent to multiple schools, but Hart went the extra mile compared to other coaches.

“The main thing for me was when Lisa came to Germany during the recruiting process,” Miksovska said. “She came to Germany to watch me play and she was the only coach who came. All other coaches were nice too, but she was like ‘What are you doing next week?’ and I said ‘I’m in Germany playing a tournament,’ and she said ‘OK I’m coming’ and I was sure [about committing to WSU].”

Miksovska said when she first moved to Pullman all she brought was two suitcases and three racquets. She said in the beginning it was a hard transition, but she felt a lot of support from her coaches and teammates.

Miksovska said having so many international students creates a rich team atmosphere, one where she has learned about other cultures and parts of the world. She has one goal for the season: Stay true to her team-player, winning mentality.

Hart said she knew Miksovska would fit in well on the team after seeing her play in Germany and was drawn in by her spirit on the court.

“I got to see her play a match,” Hart said. “I loved her competitive spirit on the court, the way she fought. She’s just kind of a natural fighter in everything she does.”