SoCon women's tennis postseason awards announced

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina’s Jade Groen has been named the 2025 Southern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year, as announced by the league on Wednesday. ETSU’s Ksenija Rage was named the SoCon Freshman of the Year, while Wofford’s Krissy Hall was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Chattanooga’s Alice Hall earned the Sportsmanship Award.

Postseason balloting was conducted by the league’s eight head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. The first team features four doubles pairings due to a tie in voting.

Groen becomes Western Carolina’s first SoCon Player of the Year. The junior from Zoetermeer, Netherlands finished the regular season 16-2 at No.1 singles, including a 7-0 mark in SoCon play, and is 15-7 at No. 1 doubles (6-1 SoCon) with partners Madison and Chloe Schwarz. A three-time SoCon Player of the Week this season, Groen earned first-team All-SoCon honors at both singles and doubles with Chloe Schwarz. She enters this week’s SoCon Women’s Tennis Championship having won nine of her last ten singles matches, the tenth going unfinished. Groen is joined on the first team by Isabella Sambola.
 
Rage is ETSU’s 2nd SoCon Freshman of the Year in women’s tennis. The first-year player from Benidorm, Spain, went 13-5 overall in singles play this season, including a 5-2 SoCon mark at No. 6. Rage also combined for a 7-10 doubles record with Ralitsa Alexandrova at the No. 3 position. ETSU enters postseason play with a 12-8 overall mark.
 
Hall has led Wofford to a school record 16-3 overall mark and a 5-2 SoCon record in earning her second career Coach of the Year honor and the second for Wofford all-time. The Terriers earned the No. 3 seed for the SoCon tournament with a 5-2 win over Western Carolina on Saturday, April 12. Hall directs a squad that saw three players earn All-SoCon honors, with Breda Brennan earning first team singles honors and second team No. 1 doubles honors with partner Lily Woods, who received second team No. 3 singles honors. Chloe Elliott also garnered second team honors at the No. 6 singles position.
 
Hall becomes Chattanooga’s seventh Sportsmanship Award winner, the most recent of which came in 2011. A senior from Isle of Palms, South Carolina, Hall finished the season 6-3 overall and 3-1 in SoCon singles play this season.
 
SoCon first seed Furman put No. 1 singles player Sara Snyder on the all-conference first team. Ellie Schulson and Macy Hitchcock earned second team honors at the No.4 and No.5 spots, respectively, while doubles pairs Jess Dawson and Hitchcock earned the No.2 doubles second team spot and Alexa Griffith and Grace Thomas got the No. 3 doubles second team honors.
 
Mercer’s Maria de Diego Quinones and ETSU’s Daniela Rivers rounded out the first-team singles honors.

For doubles, ETSU’s Rivera and Alessandra Caceres and Samford’s Sara Erenda and Emily Surcey earned first team honors. Caceres earned second team all-conference singles honors at the No. 2 position.

Chattanooga’s Rozalie Dohnalova rounded out second-team honors while Savanah Presson and Zara Burns made the All-Freshman team.

The all-freshmen team is filled out by Samford’s Eleni Liakonis, UNC Greensboro’s Elisabeth Birkevold, and Western Carolina’s Zoe Lui.
 
The SoCon Women’s Tennis Championship begins Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with all eight league teams vying for the title.
 
2025 Southern Conference Player of the Year

Jade Groen, Jr., Western Carolina

2025 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year

Ksenija Rage, ETSU

2025 Southern Conference Coach of the Year

Krissy Hall, Wofford
 

2025 Southern Conference Sportsmanship Award

Alice Hall, Sr., Chattanooga

2025 All-Southern Conference Women’s Tennis

First team

Singles

Daniela Rivera, ETSU
Sara Snyder, Furman
Maria de Diego Quinones, Mercer
Jade Groen, Western Carolina
Isabella Sambola, Western Carolina
Breda Brennan, Wofford

Doubles
Daniela Rivera/Alessandra Caceres, ETSU
Sara Erenda/Emily Surcey, Samford

Jade Groen/Chloe Schwarz, Western Carolina

 
Second team
Singles (by position)

No. 1 – Rozalia Dohnalova, Chattanooga

No. 2 – Alessandra Caceres, ETSU

No. 3 – Lily Woods, Wofford

No. 4 – Ellie Schulson, Furman

No. 5 – Macy Hitchcock, Furman

No. 6 – Chloe Elliott, Wofford

Doubles

No. 1 – Breda Brennan/Lily Woods, Wofford

No. 2 – Jess Dawson/Macy Hitchcock, Furman

No. 3 – Alexa Griffith /Grace Thomas, Furman

All-Freshman

Ksenija Rage, ETSU
Elisabeth Birkevold, UNC Greensboro
Eleni Liakonis, Samford
Zara Burns, Chattanooga

Savanah Presson, Chattanooga

Zoe Lui, Western Carolina