NORFOLK, Va. -- Old Dominion women’s tennis freshman Kira Matushkina was named on Wednesday as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region Freshman of the Year. She is the first Monarch to win a freshman, or rookie, of the year honor since Borislava Botusharova in 2015.
Matushkina, a St. Petersburg, Russia native, finished her inaugural season with a 15-7 record and went 12-4 this spring. She finished the year on an 11-match winning streak and was undefeated in league play.
In the postseason, she found another gear as she won all three matches in the Sun Belt Tournament losing only nine games in the process. During the NCAA Regional opener at N.C. State, her singles win over Misa Malkin at No. 5 helped propel ODU to a 4-3 win over #19-South Carolina.
Her season was interrupted in the early portion of the spring with a bout of mononucleosis. In nominating her in May for the award, ODU Head Coach Dominic Manilla raved about her work-ethic to return.
“Kira was a model student-athlete during her recovery and was focused on returning to the court to fight for her team. She was extremely supportive of her teammates and had a process-oriented mindset to return. I have great admiration and respect for the way she handled the diagnosis, fought through it, and returned stronger than before,” he said.