FOREST, Va. – Averett University women's tennis broke its yearly all-conference record in 2025-26, as eight players were named to the 2025-26 Old Dominion Athletic Conference All-Conference team, announced by the league offices on Wednesday.
The awards are led off by senior Brenda Poulakidas, the lone Cougar to make the first team in singles. At No. 2 singles this year, Poulakidas went 7-4, and 7-2 within conference play.
Averett occupied three of the four first-team doubles honors. Named at No. 1 doubles were junior Dilara Sultanova and senior Elisa Battermann, and were arguably the ODAC's best duo at the summit of the lineup, finalizing a 12-2 record together and not losing a match in conference. Their best win came versus then-No. 15 Washington and Lee University, where they defeated Grace Lorenz and Allie Murrell, 6-3. Sultanova and Battermann were also named ODAC Doubles Team of the Week three times this season, the most by any partnership in the conference in 2025-26.
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Poulakidas repeated doubles honors for a second straight season at No. 2 doubles. With partner and sophomore Sunna Maass, the two compiled a 9-3 record and went 8-2 playing second doubles. They finished with a 4-1 record against ODAC opponents. The duo previously won ODAC Doubles Team of the Week for the week of Oct. 13.
Juniors Annika Kellerer and Ella Boddington entered the all-conference doubles team for the first time, as they were named at No. 3 doubles for their 7-3 record at that spot. In the ODAC, Kellerer and Boddington were 5-1.
On the second team, the Cougars had four singles selections in all. Sultanova earned her spot at No. 1 singles, winning eight matches, four of which came in conference. She concluded the regular season on a four-match win streak after dropping her first two back in the early stages of March. Sultanova was most recently named ODAC Singles Player of the Week for the week of Apr. 6.
Senior Harshri Asher made her All-ODAC debut at No. 3 singles, where she broke out with a team-high 18 wins. Ten of those wins were at the third slot, and she lost just a single conference match to go along with seven victories. Asher was previously named ODAC Singles Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 13.
Junior Siddhi Khot also made an all-conference team for the first time at No. 4 singles. Khot tied for the second-most wins on the team with 16, as she won nine at the fourth spot and went 6-1 against ODAC foes. She won her first ODAC Singles Player of the Week award for the week of Sept. 22.
Rounding out Averett's selections was junior Annika Kellerer, who garnered back-to-back second team honors at No. 6 singles. A key depth piece in the lineup, Kellerer won 10 matches, went 5-2 in conference play and ended the year on a six-match winning streak.
Eleven more laurels take head coach Bert Poole's ODAC all-conference award tally to a staggering 31 since joining the conference ahead of the 2022-23 season. Since becoming Averett's coach in 2015, Poole has now amassed 43 women's all-conference selections spanning both the Cougars' time in the USA South and ODAC.
2026 All-ODAC women's tennis awards
ODAC Player of the Year: Lauren Long, Sr., Washington and Lee
ODAC Coach of the Year: Erin Ness, Washington and Lee
ODAC Rookie of the Year: Jette Dammeier, Fy., Virginia Wesleyan
ODAC/VAFB Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lauren Long, Sr., Washington and Lee
First team
- #1 Singles – Carolina Dirk, Guilford
- #1 Singles – Lauren Long, Washington and Lee *
- #2 Singles – Brenda Poulakidas, Averett
- #2 Singles – Margarette Berdy, Washington and Lee
- #3 Singles – Riho Iijima, Washington and Lee
- #4 Singles – Annie Jennings, Washington and Lee *
- #5 Singles – Jordan Kach, Washington and Lee
- #6 Singles – Jette Dammeier, Virginia Wesleyan
- #1 Doubles – Dilara Sultanova/Elisa Battermann, Averett
- #1 Doubles – Carolina Dirk/Erika Mendez, Guilford
- #2 Doubles – Brenda Poulakidas/Sunna Maass, Averett
- #3 Doubles – Ella Boddington/Annika Kellerer, Averett
Second team
- #1 Singles – Dilara Sultanova, Averett
- #1 Singles – Alex Guilarte, Sweet Briar ^
- #2 Singles – Fleur Gaalman, Randolph *
- #2 Singles – Olivia Guzzo, Shenandoah
- #3 Singles – Harshri Asher, Averett
- #4 Singles – Siddhi Khot, Averett
- #5 Singles – Amy Rigg, Randolph
- #6 Singles – Annika Kellerer, Averett
- #1 Doubles – Lucy Bovard/Alex Guilarte ^, Sweet Briar
- #1 Doubles – Tuva Flink/Jette Hafermann, Virginia Wesleyan
- #2 Doubles – Meckenzie Letellier/Victoria Updike, Randolph-Macon
- #3 Doubles – Leigha Montrief/Kendra Gillette, Shenandoah
* 2025 All-ODAC First Team
^ 2025 All-ODAC Second Team
