WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
GAMBIER, Ohio — For the second straight season, Eleni Lazaridou was named an All-American by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Lazaridou, a Kenyon College rising senior, was one of just 29 NCAA Division III student-athletes named to the ITA All-America Team for singles play.
Throughout the 2024-25 season, Lazaridou posted a 17-3 singles record playing in the top lineup spot for the Owls. She was 15-2 in dual meets and 2-1 in tournament play. She played a huge role in Kenyon gaining the North Coast Athletic Conference’s (NCAC) regular season and tournament titles.
After the conference tournament was complete, Lazaridou and the Owls went on to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament and claimed a first-round win over No. 25-ranked Sewanee, before bowing out in the second round.
As the NCAA team tournament was going on, Lazaridou was named a first team All-NCAC honoree, as well as the NCAC Player of the Year for the third time in her career.
Lazaridou went on to compete in the NCAA Division III Singles Championships. She worked her way through the first two rounds of the 32-player bracket by topping Addison Felts, from University of Mary Washington, in the first round and then Erica Ekstrand, from University of Chicago, in the second round.
Once into the NCAA quarterfinal round, Lazaridou’s run came to an end, as she dropped a match to No. 2-seeded Emily Kantrovitz of Emory University.
Lazaridou is the 11th player in the history of Kenyon women’s tennis to claim an All-America singles award from the ITA.
In order to gain ITA All-America status, a player had to be a top-8 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship, win one round at the NCAA Singles Championship, finish in the Top 20 in the final ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, win an ITA Fall Regional Tournament, or win a first-round match at the ITA National Small College Championships (ITA Cup).
When the ITA released its final 2024-25 NCAA Division III singles ranking, Lazaridou was in the No. 13 spot.
