November 13, 2019
TEMPE, AZ – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its first regional rankings on Wednesday, with St. Thomas Aquinas College athletes being heavily represented.
A grand total of four men’s and women’s tennis players were named to the initial regional rankings, with junior Sofiia Shut’ko ’21 (Kiev, Ukraine) becoming the first-ever Spartan to be ranked in program history. Playing mainly at first singles, the NCAA Division I transfer has made a name for herself with her unorthodox style, and currently sits as the 20th-ranked women’s singles player in the NCAA East Region. Shut’ko also garnered second team All-East Coast Conference recognition during the Fall 2019 season.
On the men’s side, three singles players and one doubles pairing earned a regional ranking. Odysseas Papaioannou ’22 (Thessaloniki, Greece) becomes the program’s highest ranked player in history, coming in at number four in the region. Reigning East Coast Conference Player and Rookie of the Year Marcel Volz ’22 (Iffezheim, Germany) climbs up the rankings to the number seven spot, while Roberto Chong ’21 (Puigpunyent, Spain) moves up a position at number eleven. Papaioannou and Chong become the program’s first ever ranked doubles team, finishing the fall portion as the fourth-ranked team in the region.
Both teams will resume play during the spring semester looking to make history. The women’s team has already tied the previous program record with their tenth win of the season, while the men’s team is currently 3-0 while shutting out their opponents by a combined 19-0 margin.