Led By Player of the Year Savvidou, Holy Cross Dominates Women’s Tennis Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO — Like it did during the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular- and post-seasons, Holy Cross College dominated when the league office announced its 2024 women’s tennis honor roll on Tuesday morning.
The Saints program claimed 11 of the 17 total awards presented with both four first and second team all-conference picks as well as sweeping the three top individual awards.
Headlining the list was CCAC Player of the Year Victoria Savvidou (Cyprus), who Is ranked #64 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings. She went 10-4 this past spring in singles play and 11-2 in doubles action teamed with Anna Beer (Tutzing, Germany).
Savvidou, just a sophomore, repeated on both the all-conference singles and doubles teams. Beer, a senior, joined her on the latter squad for the second year in a row and has been named to the doubles team each of the past three years.
The Holy Cross doubles team of Kia Carvalho-Landell (Brimingham, England) and Nicole Martinez (Villavicencio, Colombia) was also recognized. For Carvalho-Landell, a junior, she repeated on both the singles and doubles teams.
HCC’s Maria Sanchez (Bogota, Columbia), meanwhile, was named the CCAC Freshman of the Year after compiling a 7-1 record in singles action and a 7-2 mark in doubles play.
Helga Lopez (Frisco, Texas)Â joined the other three Saints on the first team for the second time in the past three years.
Rounding out the list of award winners for Holy Cross was head coach Eric Mahone, who was named the CCAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Saints to both conference crowns and a perfect 7-0 record against league competition, including the postseason tournament. Overall, the NAIA No. 20-ranked Saints went 10-3 and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament.
University of St. Francis collected four of the other six awards courtesy of Anna Bintsarovskaya (Chachkov, Belarus) and Gabriella Noa (Lima, Peru). Both earned first team plaudits for the second year in a row, while also teaming up to claim doubles recognition for the first time.
Roosevelt’s Teodora Petrica (Bucharest, Romania) claimed the final spot on the seven-member singles team, while St. Ambrose University was selected as the CCAC Champions of Character Team.