BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Following the opening round of the 2024 Great American Conference Women’s Tennis Championships, the league held its year-end awards ceremony. Henderson State’s Mulan Kamoe repeated as Player of the Year; Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Larissa Giraldi Correa earned Newcomer of the Year; Ouachita Baptist’s Sadbaroy Kholdarova claimed Freshman of the Year and Southern Arkansas’ Greg Owen won Coach of the Year. Arkansas Tech’s Meaghan Butler and Sofia Beggiatto plus Henderson State’s Haarini Balakrishnan all received the Elite Scholar Athlete Award – Presented by Conway Regional Health System.
Kamoe became just the second two-time Player of the Year in league history. She equaled the feat accomplished by Southern Nazarene’s Masha Andrianova in 2014 and 2015. In singles play, Kamoe went undefeated in the regular season against GAC opponents and amassed a 17-8 overall singles record. She paired with Kristina Kozlova for the No. 34 nationally-ranked doubles team. They went 15-8 in all matches, 4-1 against GAC foes.
Giraldi Correa helped the Savage Storm earn a share of the GAC regular season title and top seed for the GAC Championships. She paired with Jou Chen Chen to go 11-3 as Southeastern’ No. 2 team, including 4-0 against GAC opponents. She won 13 of 21 singles matches.
Kholdarova became the first Tiger lauded with one of the GAC’s individual superlative awards. Her freshman campaign saw her go 13-4 in singles play, 6-2 when playing in the No. 1 position. She went 4-1 against GAC opponents.
Cole led the Muleriders to an 18-4 regular season and a share of the GAC regular-season title. They enter the GAC Championships ranked fifth in the most recent NCAA Division II Central Region rankings.
Kamoe and Kholdarova added First-Team All-GAC honors. Both made the team by unanimous consent. Three Muleriders – Annika Berrendorf, Amelie Gindl and Greta Wallin – garnered spots on the team. Berrendorf and Wallin formed SAU’s top doubles team. They went 17-4 overall, 4-1 against GAC opponents. Berrendorf went undefeated against GAC foes playing in the Muleriders’ No. 2 singles spot. She went 17-3 overall. Wallin added a 9-12 record at No. 1 singles. Gindl produced a 16-2 singles record and a 13-7 doubles mark.
Southeastern Oklahoma State placed two on the First Team in Georgia Hosking and Vanessa Nitu. Hosking produced a 12-7 singles record and a 12-9 doubles record. Nitu became a three-time First-Team selection after winning nine times from the No. 1 singles spot.
Kozlova gave the Reddies two First-Team honorees for the first time since 2016. In addition to her sterling doubles record with Kamoe, she went 15-9 playing in from the No. 2 position.
Arkansas Tech’s Monica Balau and Harding’s Karli Roux filled out the First Team. Balau finished the regular season with an 8-6 singles record and a 7-8 doubles mark. Roux and Romane Britt went 8-5 as the Lady Bisons’ top doubles team. She added a 14-7 record in singles play.
The All-GAC Second Team consisted of Henderson State’s Jenna Bohnert and Angela Georgieva, Harding’s Sofia Sarmiento Ruiz and Alexia Zarate Valdez, Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Amishi Shukla and Milana Voloshyn, Arkansas Tech’s Sofia Beggiatto, Ouachita Baptist’s Austynn Crocker and Southern Arkansas Josie Holderbach
A total of six student-athletes earned the Distinguished Scholar Athlete award – Presented by Conway Regional Health System in Crocker, Wallin, Arkansas Tech’s Melanie Griffiths and Madalena Amil, Ouachita Baptist’s Alicia May and SAU’s Inna Serpukhova.
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