LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In exclusive voting by the head coaches in the league, Nina Mitrofanova of Southwestern University has been selected the 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Women’s Tennis Player-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In the same balloting, Olivia Kim of Trinity University was tabbed as the league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year and her coach, Andrew Cohn, was selected as SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
Southwestern’s top line player throughout the fall and spring, Mitrofanova, a junior from Conroe, Texas, finished the regular season as the 12th-ranked player in the West Region with a mark of 10-5 in dual match play. Among her highlights this year, the junior took home the singles championship at The Ojai 120th Annual Tennis Tournament, defeating the 14th-ranked and 21st-ranked players in the region on the way to the individual title. She was also an All-Tournament honoree at the 2022 SCAC Women’s Tennis Championship, leading the then No. 16 Pirates to the championship match before falling to No. 13 Trinity two weekends ago. The program’s first-ever two-time All-American, Mitrofanova finished as the No. 20 ranked singles player in the nation in 2021.
This marks just the second time a Southwestern women’s player has received SCAC Player-of-the-Year accolades. Former Pirate and All-American Mary Cardone earned the league’s top honor following the 2017 season.
Kim, a first-year player from Phoenix, Ariz., posted a 7-8 overall mark in her inaugural season, which included stints at both the No. 1 and No. 2 lines as the Tiger rookie battled eight players ranked in their respective regions at the time of competition. Ranked eighth in the West Region as a singles player, Kim has also held, along with partner and fellow first-year Ruth Hill, a regional doubles ranking for most of the season as the duo posted a 16-4 mark at the No. 2 line.
Kim, who earned First Team honors as both a singles player and doubles player this year, is the third Trinity women’s player to earn SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, joining Hailey Feuer, who took home the accolade in 2019, and current teammate Cate Cushing, who earned the honor last season.
In his second season as the head coach of the Tigers, Cohn led the currently 14th-ranked Trinity women’s tennis squad to the 2022 SCAC championship match where the Tigers defeated Southwestern University, 5-0, to regain the title the Pirates had won the previous year. The win represented the ninth conference title in the last 10 contested championships for Trinity and 24th overall for the women's tennis program, the third-most conference crowns by one program in SCAC history, trailing only the 25 championships won by Trinity women's soccer and 26 by the Trinity men's tennis program. As the league’s automatic qualifier, the Trinity women (14-8) open NCAA Division III regional play on Saturday in the tournament’s second round against 16th-ranked University of Redlands at the UT-Dallas Tennis Complex.
A two-time ITA National Assistant Coach-of-the Year (2015 and 2017), this is the first SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honor for Cohn.
2022 SCAC Women’s Tennis Player-of-the-Year
Nina Mitrofanova, Southwestern University, Junior, Conroe, Texas
2022 SCAC Women’s Tennis Newcomer-of-the-Year
Olivia Kim, Trinity University, First-Year, Phoenix, Ariz.
2022 SCAC Women’s Tennis Coach-of-the-Year
Andrew Cohn, Trinity University, 14-8 Overall Record | SCAC Tournament Champion
To view the entire 2022 All-SCAC Women's Tennis Team, click here.
