Georgetown's Paige Gilbert during a match. The Georgetown women's tennis team will look to rely on their experienced players during their championship season this spring.
After strong play in the fall, the Georgetown University women’s tennis team is looking to build on their momentum for a potential championship season this spring. Looking ahead, the Hoyas will strive to capitalize on a robust roster of proven returning players and highly touted newcomers.
The Hoyas finished their 2023-24 campaign with 8 wins and received the 3-seed in the Big East Tournament. Ultimately, the Hoyas made it to the Big East quarterfinals before the St. John’s University Red Storm eliminated them.
The Hoyas will enter the spring without one of their past leaders, Chloe Bendetti, who has since graduated. Bendetti served an important role for the Hoyas, spending five years with the team. Bendetti led Georgetown on and off the court. Last season, Bendetti was named to the second team all-Big East, and earned the accolade of Intercollegiate Tennis Association scholar-athlete, with a GPA over 3.5. Bendetti served as a role model to the team as an experienced player who excelled competitively and academically.
Despite Bendetti’s absence, the Hoyas will retain one of their key players, sophomore Emily Novikov. Last season, Novikov was named Big East freshman of the year and landed on second team all-Big East. In the spring season, Novikov went 11-4, with a team-high 11 singles wins.
Along with plenty of skilled returning players, including Novikov, junior Paige Gilbert, sophomore Katie Garofolo-Ro, junior Ashley Kennedy and sophomore Tatiana Zelenko, the Hoyas gained five new players with proficient skill sets.
Full disclosure: Ashley Kennedy is a deputy editor in The Hoya’s Opinion section.
Notably, one of the five players includes first-year Molly Evans, the 2021 D.C. State Athletic Association champion with a 41-1 overall record in high school, as well as first-year Carolyn Schaefer, a three-time all-state player in Wisconsin, Greater Metro Conference champion and player of the year. Additionally, the Hoyas added first-year Jordan Thomas, the 2022 Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools (TCIS) MVP and 2021 TCIS player of the year, and first-year Natasha Kavarana, the 2021 South Carolina state champion. Finally, Georgetown reinforced the team with experience and talent by bringing in graduate student Ellen Puzak, who earned 45 match victories at the University of Colorado Boulder.
During the fall, the Hoyas gained valuable competitive experience and built chemistry together as a new team. In their second match of the fall season, the Hoyas, with both new and returning players, shined in several close matches at the Naval Academy Blue & Gold Invite in Annapolis, Md.
In the invite, Novikov picked up right where she left off last spring, making it to the semifinals in A-flight. Several newcomers also showed their importance to the team and produced impressive results. In B-flight, Kavarana made it to the finals, losing narrowly to Navy’s Parvathi Shanker, 6-3, 4-6, 7-10. In D-flight, Evans won the final, defeating Villanova University’s Valieriia Kornieva 7-2, 2-6, 10-5. Additionally, in doubles, Schaefer and Zelenko fashioned a great run, securing a spot in the final match, but had to forfeit due to an injury Zelenko suffered.
The Hoyas also gained significant experience this fall during their campaign at ITA Regionals. In open doubles, Novikov and Kavarana made a promising run before losing in the Round of 16 to University of Virginia’s Zara Larke and Blanca Pico Navarro and, in open singles, Kavarana earned some impressive victories before falling in the round of 32 to Virginia’s Sara Ziodato.
The Big East this year is primed for an interesting but competitive season. Many Big East teams had star players graduate; only two of the six all-conference first-team players, DePaul’s Hannah Smith and UConn’s Olivia Wright, will return for the Spring 2025 season. Notably, Xavier, who won the conference championships last year, will be without Imani Graham, the Big East women’s player of the year, and Anna Roggenburk, first-team all-conference, who both graduated. Despite that, Xavier did not falter this fall, as their women’s tennis doubles team of Clara Owen and Abby Nugent qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships after earning a spot in the finals at the ITA Conference Masters.
Georgetown Head Coach Freddy Mesmer said the team looks forward to the increased conference matches on the team’s schedule.
“We also are playing nine of our 10 conference opponents, which is huge for our program,” Mesmer told Georgetown Athletics. “Finally getting Xavier back on the schedule as well is great because they are the reigning conference champs, and I think it gives our team a great goal to strive for throughout the year and see what that level is like to be a conference champion.”
Last year, with an 8-13 record (4-2 Big East), the Georgetown women secured the third seed in the Big East. This season, the Hoyas will aim to top that. The myriad of Big East opponents will prepare Georgetown for the Big East Championship April 17 in South Carolina.
The Hoyas are also set to play competitive nonconference opponents as well, including matches against University of Florida, University of Delaware and Long Beach State University.
The Hoyas’ season opener will be against Howard at Yates Field House on Jan. 24. Last year, the Hoyas managed a narrow 4-3 victory over the Bison.