Historic season ends in Final Four

The University of North Georgia (UNG) women's tennis team kept making history until the very end of its 2024 season. Powered by a four-player senior class, determination and camaraderie, the Nighthawks reached the NCAA Division II Final Four for the first time in program history.

Third-seeded UNG recorded 4-0 victories against No. 14 seed Charleston (West Virginia) and No. 11 seed Academy of Art in the 16-team NCAA championship at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The Nighthawks' season ended with a 4-0 loss to No. 2 seed Nova Southeastern University on May 23.

"I told them after the match, it's not only about today. It's kind of the culmination of this season and what they did," head coach Kent Norsworthy said. "There were so many moments this year where we had adversity and we had to win some really tough 4-3s to even get to this point." 

UNG finished the season with a 25-2 record, breaking the previous program record of 22 victories set by the 2019 team that reached the Elite Eight.

The Nighthawks also earned the program's first Peach Belt Conference tournament championship this season.

"The season as a whole was just something that we can never forget," Norsworthy said. "They're a very resilient group and they just continued to push forward, so I couldn't be more proud." 

Before this year, UNG had just two players in program record history win 20 or more singles matches in one season. This year they had three players — junior Angelina Linnikova, senior Valentina Ascarrunz and junior Ashley Moinard — do so. Linnikova earned the highest ITA singles ranking in program history at No. 6 in the country, before tying the all-time program record with 22 singles wins on the season.

Those same three singles players recorded three of the top five singles seasons in program history. With a 21-2 record and a .913 winning percentage, Moinard and Ascarrunz are now tied for the best season winning percentage in singles play in UNG women's tennis history.

Ascarrunz and junior Carolina Reis set a program single-season record with their 23rd doubles victory against Academy of Art. Their .884 winning percentage shattered the previous best mark in school history.

Linnikova and senior Svetlana Teterina also combined to go 18-5 in doubles this year, marking the third-best doubles season in program history by winning percentage standards. 

"I am extremely proud of this team and how we competed during the national tournament just like we did the entire season. We are proud to have come so close to the national title, but a little disappointed that we couldn't do it in the end," senior Johanna Lippert said. "Reflecting back, I still feel like we could have done better, but I am super proud to have possibly paved the way for future teams to believe even more in themselves and hopefully achieve this goal for the program."