Women’s Tennis’ Rapolu earns two ITA Texas Region Awards – University of Texas Athletics

Austin – Texas Women’s Tennis senior Malaika Rapolu was named both the Senior Player of the Year and the Most Improved Player for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Texas Region, the organization announced on Wednesday. 

Rapolu becomes the first Longhorn to win the region’s Senior Player of the Year award since 2020 when Bianca and Anna Turati shared it. The Most Improved Player award is in its first season after the ITA previously distributed an award for Most Improved Senior.

An ITA All-American in singles, Rapolu had a remarkable 2023-24 season, closing with career-high rankings in both singles at No. 17 and doubles at No. 30, while earning first-team All-Big 12 accolades in both. 

This year, Rapolu compiled a 36-7 singles record that included an 18-3 mark in dual matches, with 11 wins against ranked opponents in straight sets. The 36 overall wins were the fifth most in NCAA Division I, and the 18 dual match victories are also a team high. After an injury to teammate Sabina Zeynalova sidelined Zeynalova for most of the second half of the season, Rapolu stepped up into the No. 1 position for a majority of that time and went 7-1. She also had a 13-match winning streak to open dual match play. She clinched four overall matches, including against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Semifinals. Of her 36 victories, only four went to a third set with those all coming during tournament play. Meanwhile, four of her seven losses were against top-25 foes. In the fall, Rapolu won the singles title at the ITA Texas Regionals.

Rapolu helped lead Texas to a No. 11 final ranking this season and a 23-6 overall record season with three of those defeats coming to Oklahoma State, which was the No. 1 team for a majority of the year and went undefeated until their final match in the NCAA Tournament. The three other losses came on the road against teams that finished in the top-10 in Stanford and twice against UCLA. Despite missing Zeynalova, Rapolu and the Longhorns still finished 12-1 in Big 12 play and in second place, trailing only the Oklahoma State, and also reached the Big 12 Championship Final. 

For her career, Rapolu registered 139 total wins with 100 in singles and 39 in doubles. She has also been a two-time All-Big 12 Tournament Team selection at number six singles in 2021 and 2023, while she earned the individual season championship at number six in 2021. In the classroom, Rapolu is a multi-time ITA-Scholar Athlete and Academic All-Big 12 selection while majoring in management information systems.