2024 Division I Women’s Tennis ITA National Awards

Wilson ITA Coach of the Year

Alison Ojeda | University of Tennessee

Alison Ojeda has guided the Lady Volunteers to one of the most monumental seasons in program history. In her eighth season as the head coach at her alma mater, Ojeda guided her team to 22 victories, the highest number during her tenure for the second consecutive year. The team also triumphed over 12 ranked opponents, including seven in the top 25, notably defeating No. 1 Oklahoma State. The Lady Vols have now produced back-to-back seasons of at least 21 victories for the first time since 2002-03. This is the winningest two-year stretch for the program since those two campaigns.

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year

Jarryd Chaplin | University of Georgia

In his first season as Associate Head Coach, Jarryd Chaplin has served as a key addition to the Bulldogs staff under first-year head coach Drake Bernstein. This season, Chaplin has aided the team tremendously en route to an SEC Regular Season Co-Championship, SEC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament National Championship appearance. With Chaplin on the staff, Georgia’s doubles identity has proven to be a key source of success for the Bulldogs, earning a total of 23 doubles points out of 29 total matches played. Chaplin’s coaching impact in doubles and singles helped the Bulldogs to a 25-5 overall and a NCAA National Runner-Up finish. Chaplin also helped the Bulldog doubles team of Mert and Vidmanova to an NCAA Doubles Championship.

ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship

Connie Ma | Stanford University

Throughout her whole life, Connie Ma has believed in the profound impact that she can have on other individuals and communities through acts of kindness and service. This passion, along with her interest in biology and science, have been the driving forces behind her commitment to volunteer initiatives and desire to pursue medicine. As such, one of her most significant dedications in this realm has been her involvement in Cardinal Free Clinics, which is a student-led clinic partnered with Stanford Healthcare, that provides free transitional care to those that don’t have a means of obtaining health insurance, or can’t afford to, as well as anyone else who are impacted by barriers to access. Connie currently works as a Mandarin interpreter, where she helps to bridge the language barrier between Mandarin-speaking patients/families and medical staff.

ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award

Carol Lee | Georgia Tech

This year, Carol was an ACC Excellence Award recipient and was awarded Georgia Tech Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Carol has consistently earned dean’s list honors and has a 3.35 cumulative GPA. Carol has been committed this year to become a better leader. At Georgia Tech in place of captains, there are weekly leaders. This year, Carol took over our weekly leader program at the end of the semester. Instead of the coaching staff directing the topic of what should be discussed in our team meetings, Carol created the last three weeks of team meetings and singlehandedly planned and dictated a team meeting called “Road to the Sweet-16” which helped the team almost get the upset over Texas in the Round of 32. Carol has set the standard in terms of work ethic and consistently pushes her teammates to be better.

ITA Rookie of the Year

Luciana Perry | Ohio State University

Ohio State freshman Lucina Perry made an immediate impact on college tennis. In the Big Ten, she was voted the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten. She also was 3-0 in both singles and doubles in the tournament to earn Big Ten All-Tournament Team accolades. Ranked the No. 10 newcomer entering the season, she entered the singles and doubles rankings after the fall and has reached as high as No. 41 in singles and No. 17 in doubles (ranked with three different partners during the season). She helped the Buckeyes to a 10-1 record in Big Ten play to finish second and the squad reached the conference tournament final. Ohio State reached as high as No. 7 in the NCAA team rankings and was the No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes ended the year 20-8.

ITA Most Improved Player

Ange Oby Kajuru | Oklahoma State University

Ange Oby Kajuru is in her third collegiate tennis season and first at Oklahoma State University. She is currently ranked #3 nationally in both singles and doubles and has shown tremendous improvement and development this season in both singles and doubles. She finished her freshman year winning 14 matches in singles and finishing ranked #107 nationally. In her sophomore year, she won 25 singles matches and finished #52 nationally in singles. This season, she leads the team with 37 wins to just 7 losses, winning the ITA Central Region singles championship, a finalist in doubles, and a finalist in doubles at the ITA Fall National Championships.

ITA Player to Watch

Amelia Honer | UCSB

Throughout her career, Amelia Honer has posted a 75-20 singles record and a 59-27 doubles record. She has been ranked as high as No. 13 in the country for doubles and has been named the Big West Player of the Year twice. Throughout her career, Amelia Honer has posted a 75-20 singles record and a 59-27 doubles record. She has been ranked as high as No. 13 in the country for doubles and has been named the Big West Player of the Year twice. At the NCAA Singles Championships, Honer would reach the Quarterfinals to claim All-American honors for the first time in her career.

ITA Senior Player of the Year

Amelia Rajecki | NC State University

Finishing ranked No. 2 in singles, Amelia Rajecki ended the season as the highest-ranked senior in singles in NCAA Division I play. During the 2023-24 season, Rajecki secured wins over No. 1 Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M) 6-4, 6-2, No. 3 Kari Miller (Michigan) 6-4, 7-5, No. 6 Fiona Crawley (UNC) 6-3, 7-5 & 6-4, 7-5, No. 8 Carolyn Ansari 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, No. 11 Alexa Noel (Miami) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, and No. 14 Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine) 6-3, 6-4. At the No. 1 spot, Rajecki went 31-7 in singles, 21-4 in dual matches, and 24-8 in doubles, 16-5 in dual matches. She went 9-3 in ACC play, 7-1 versus Top 15 Singles players in 2023-24 and 5-0 versus Top 10 Singles players. Rajecki posted a 103-39 career singles record, 65-19 in dual matches, and 28-7 in ACC play. In doubles, Rajecki went 98-42 in her career, 67-21 in dual matches and 29-7 in ACC play.

ITA National Player of the Year

Mary Stoiana | Texas A&M University

During the 2023-24 season, Stoiana stood out among the nation’s best. The junior kickstarted her fall campaign on top, as she was the first Aggie in program history to win the ITA All-American singles championship. Her victory in the fall propelled her to the top of the ITA singles rankings, where Stoiana had another program first, being ranked No. 1 in the country. Continuing her success into the spring, she helped the Aggies capture their first National Championship in program history. Individually she secured 25 victories in singles and 20 in doubles during dual-match season. Her performances helped her claim a plethora of honors throughout the year, including back-to-back SEC Player of the Year honors, NCAA Tournament MVP, NCAA All-Tournament Team accolades in singles and doubles, All-America distinction in singles and doubles and finally All-SEC First Team honors.

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