Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 2 | October 2018

inside.hokiesports.com 37 118 S. Main Street TechBookstore.com Shop NikE gear and get game day ready! ® ORDER ONLINE FREE pick up in store! GETTING TO KNOW… RHEGAN MITCHELL Q: What is your dream vacation? RM: I’ve always wanted to travel to Greece.  Q: If you could play any other sport, it would be which one and why? RM: Tennis, I played when I was younger and have always enjoyed the sport.  Q: I chose Virginia Tech because… RM: The sense of community.  Q: I’d love to trade places for a day with… RM: Beyoncé. She is always traveling all over the world and performing, so it would be cool to see what that is like. Q: What is your favorite thing about being a Virginia Tech student-athlete? RM: The support from our fans is out of this world. “Typically, they do heal quickly,” Dr. Rogers said. “It’s pretty vascular stuff. They can be serious, obviously, but if there is good blood supply to the eye, they tend to heal as long as they’re protected. In this case, she had surgical treatment and then it’s a matter of resting … She recovered great and was able to get back on the court quickly.” Mitchell wanted to be ready for a Nov. 4 match at Georgia Tech—and a return to her hometown. She grew up in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, and wanted to play in front of her parents and two older sisters and other family and friends. Less than two months after her eye surgeries, she returned to the court for an Oct. 30 match against NC State, playing in one set. A few days later, then-head coach Chris Riley inserted her into the starting lineup against the Yellow Jackets. The match was a return “home” in more ways than one for Mitchell. All seemed right when she stepped onto the court with Rhana, continuing a lifetime of playing on the same team. At the risk of limiting their options during the recruiting process, they insisted on playing together in college. They took trips to Butler and Connecticut before committing to Virginia Tech. “We were definitely a package deal,” Rhegan admitted. “Every coach, I told them, ‘We’re going to go to school together. It’s either both of us or none of us.’ “Maybe we limited ourselves [in the recruiting process], but we knew we wanted to stay together as long as we could. We had fun. I’m glad it worked out here.” Mitchell hasn’t incurred any issues with her eyes since the surgery. In fact, the more she played, the more aggressive she became, and she knew she was good to go after an incident at Syracuse later in the season. While warming up, a teammate shanked a ball —and the ball pegged her directly in the face. “Everybody was like, ‘Are you OK?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’” she said. “I had the glasses then. I had been playing a little bit, but I think just getting over the fear, especially playing in the front row, you have more chances of getting hit by the ball. When I was playing in the front row, I was a little bit more scared, but after that [the ball hitting her in the face], I’m like, ‘Nothing is going to happen if you get hit.’ “Now, it is what it is. If I get hit, I don’t think there will be any complications. I went back to the doctor, and he said everything looks pretty good.” Mitchell, and fellow senior Jaila Tolbert, have spent the past two seasons building the foundation for a new era of Virginia Tech volleyball under head coach Jill Wilson, who took over for Riley at the start of last season. Already this season, the Hokies own more wins than they managed during the 2017 campaign, and they harbor hopes of an NCAA Tournament bid. Mitchell, a four-year starter as a setter, departs after this season with more than 3,000 assists, which ranks among the top 10 in Virginia Tech history. She graduates next May with a degree in human nutrition, foods and exercise, and fittingly, she wants to get into the medical field. She used a field study in Virginia Tech’s training room as a way to gain experience, and she plans to further her education at a nursing school closer to Atlanta. “I haven’t figured exactly what I want to do, but the different types of nursing that you can go into really interest me,” she said. “Obviously, after my surgery, the nurses were so helpful. I was like, ‘I think I could see myself doing that.’” The key word there is “see.” For a brief period of time, she faced an uncertain future, with her vision in doubt. Her experiences certainly gave her a 20/20 perspective on the fragility of life. Yet now, she sees with the utmost of clarity — and without question, as she looks toward her future, she finds a view that is quite amazing.