The University of Akron Athletics
Tennis Inks Two for 2011-12 Season
May 25 | Women's Tennis
AKRON, Ohio – University of Akron women's tennis head coach Brandon Padgett announced on Wednesday that Ksenia Berestetska and Olga Shkundina will join the program starting in the 2011-12 season. Berestetska, a graduate of TEC Hvidover #215 in Kiev, Ukraine, will transfer from Stephen F. Austin and be a sophomore next season. At SFA, she posted a 29-7 singles record and an 18-12 doubles mark and was the SFA Fall Invitational champion. Prior to joining the collegiate ranks, she was listed among the Ukraine's top junior players and competed in ITF Junior tournaments throughout Europe. She notched a quarterfinal round finish in the 2008 Donetsk Cup.
"We are excited to have someone with Ksenia's abilities joining our program," Padgett said. "She will add much needed depth to a talented returning group. Ksenia brings patience from the baseline, something we have lacked as a team."
Shkundina, a native of Ufa, Russia, is currently ranked 635th by the ETA (Tennis Europe) among women of all ages in limited playing time, but saw her ranking climb as high as 36th. Her resume includes reaching the doubles semifinals and the singles round of 16 at the Eddie Herr Championships, and victories over eight players ranked in the top-800 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world rankings, including three over top-300 players.
"Olga has had minimal opportunities to travel for tournament play since 2008, and her ranking has shown this; however, her level of play is outstanding, as seen by her impressive resume," Padgett said. "We expect Olga to come in and add significant depth to our line-up, with the strong possibility of playing fairly high in our lineup as a freshman."
Shkundina is the younger sister of Vera Shkundina, who played for Padgett at Kennesaw State and is that program's current No. 1 singles player. Olga, who is 15, will be one of the youngest student-athletes to ever compete in women's tennis at the Division I level. Padgett just completed his first year as coach at Akron after spending the previous three-plus seasons as head coach at Kennesaw State.
"Olga will be, what we believe, is the youngest-ever collegiate student-athlete to play a match,'' Padgett added. ''She is only 15, but with her ability, she can come in and play with anyone on our team right now.''
The Zips finished the season with a 20-5 overall record (7-1 MAC), the most victories in a season for the program since the 1990-91 squad finished 26-6, and rounded out the year with a loss to 10th-ranked Michigan in the NCAA Tournament's first round on May 14 in Ann Arbor, Mich. It was Akron's first-ever appearance in the event after claiming its first-ever Mid-American Conference tournament title over Miami (Ohio) on May 1 in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Akron loses two seniors, Anya Baronayte and Jeremie Benjamin, off its 2010-11 roster.
Players Mentioned
