Texas Tech University Athletics
Five Lady Raiders garner Big 12 awards
May 02, 2024 | Women's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – An impressive five Lady Raiders were honored with Big 12 recognition after helping Texas Tech to a 19-8 overall record and a program record 10 conference wins on the year.
Leading the way with All-Big 12 First Team honors were Cristina Tiglea (singles), Metka Komac (doubles) and Avelina Sayfetdinova (doubles). In addition, two doubles teams and a singles player were awarded with Big 12 Position Champion accolades – Komac/Sayfetdinova at court one doubles, Mariya Polishchuk/Tiglea at court two doubles and Andreea Lila at court six singles.
Texas Tech's leading duo, No. 5-ranked Komac and Sayfedinova, earned their second-consecutive Big 12 honor together and first All-Big 12 First Team Doubles award with a unanimous selection. . The tandem has been almost unstoppable this year as they total an overall doubles record of 27-5 and a 19-3 dual doubles record. Leading the team with five ranked wins, the pairing has helped Tech to 20 doubles points this season. In addition, the Lady Raider duo earned the Big 12 Position Champion honors at court one for the second year in a row after going 10-2 in Big 12 play. Their four ranked wins have come against No. 37 Loudmilla Bencheikh/Anne Marie Hiser (Alabama), No. 40/41 Emilee Astle/Kendall Kovick (BYU, twice) and No. 19 Dana Guzman/Roisin Gilheany (Oklahoma).
A force at the No. 1 singles position for the Lady Raiders, Tiglea has garnered her first career All-Big 12 award after being named to the First Team in singles. A First-Team Singles honoree for Tech since 2022, Tiglea has played at the one position all season for the Lady Raiders, totaling a 13-6 dual record there. She boasts an overall 19-9 record and went 7-2 in Big 12 play. She leads the team with nine ranked singles wins, highlighted by victories against No. 87 Bobo Huang (BYU), No. 7 Anastasiya Komar (Oklahoma State), No. 64 Amelia Honer (UCSB) and No. 51 Dana Guzman (Oklahoma).
Helping Tech to 20 doubles points on the year was the duo of Tiglea and Polishchuk, who were named Big 12 Position Champions at court two in doubles – the first time for the Lady Raiders in 10 years to win the accolade. This is also Polishchuk's and Tiglea's first time earning a position champion award in the Big 12. The tandem hold an overall 24-9 record on the year and an 18-6 record in dual matches at the two spot. They also went 10-2 in Big 12 play with a ranked win against Baylor's No. 31 team Isabella Harvison and Liubov Kostenko.
Winning her first career Big 12 honor is sophomore Andreea Lila after she was named the Big 12 Position Champion at court six in singles. The third Lady Raider in program history to earn this honor, and first since 2019, Lila leads the Lady Raiders with 20 overall singles wins this year while going 12-5 in dual singles play. She was a force at court six – winning seven dual matches at the position in conference. In addition, she went 9-1 in dual singles during Big 12 and owns an overall 8-1 record at court six.
The No. 25-ranked Lady Raiders are set to face Denver tomorrow in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at 12 PM CT in Los Angeles.
Big 12 Women's Tennis Yearly Awards
Player of the Year – Ange Oby Kajuru, OSU
Freshman of the Year – Olivia Lincer, UCF
Newcomer of the Year – Anastasiya Komar, OSU
Coach of the Year – Chris Young, OSU
All-Big 12 First Team
All-Big 12 First Team Singles (8)
Sophia Biolay, UCF
Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma
Dana Guzman, Oklahoma
Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State*
Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State*
Lucia Peyre, Oklahoma State
Malaika Rapolu, Texas
Cristina Tiglea, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 First Team Doubles (4)
Dana Guzman/Roisin Gilheany, Oklahoma
Anastasiya Komar/Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State*
Malaika Rapolu/Tanya Sasnouskaya, Texas
Metka Komac/Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech*
All-Big 12 Second Team
All-Big 12 Second Team Singles (8)
Miska Kadleckova, Baylor
Bobo Huang, BYU
Noel Saidenova, UCF
Safiya Carrington, Oklahoma State
Ayumi Miyamoto, Oklahoma State
Destinee Martins, TCU
Charlotte Chavatipon, Texas
Tanya Sasnouskaya, Texas
All-Big 12 Second Team Doubles (4)
Kendall Kovick/Emilee Astle, BYU
Julia Garcia-Ruiz/Zdena Safarova, Oklahoma
Ayumi Miyamoto/Raquel Gonzalez, Oklahoma State
Jade Otway/Isabel Pascual, TCU
All-Freshman Team
Olivia Lincer, UCF
Kyoka Kubo, Kansas
Maralgoo Chogsomjav, Kansas State
Charlotte Keitel, Kansas State
Chloe Noel, Oklahoma
Raquel Caballero, TCU
Position Champions
Women's Doubles Position Champions
No. 1 doubles   Malaika Rapolu/Tanya Sasnouskaya, Texas                       (10 wins)
                          Metka Komac/Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech        (10 wins)
No. 2 doubles   Mariya Polishchuk/Cristina Tiglea, Texas Tech         (10 wins)
No. 3 doubles   Ava Catanzarite/Chloe Noel, Oklahoma                (8 wins)
Women's Singles Position Champions
No. 1 singles     Bobo Huang, BYU                                   (8 wins)
                           Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma                  (8 wins)
No. 2 singles     Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State       (9 wins)
No. 3 singles     Lucia Peyre, Oklahoma State                    (7 wins)
                          Charlotte Chavatipon, Texas            (7 wins)
No. 4 singles     Taisiya Pachkaleva, Texas                        (8 wins)
No. 5 singles   Vivian Ovrootsky, Texas                             (8 wins)
No. 6 singles     Andreea Lila, Texas Tech                  (7 wins)
                           Emma Staker, Oklahoma                         (7 wins)
*Indicates unanimous votes
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Players Mentioned
