The Conference announced the All-Big 12 teams and individual yearly awards for the 2025 Big 12 tennis season on Wednesday, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.
Arizona collected two of the five men’s superlative awards as Colton Smith was named the Big 12 Player of the Year while Jay Friend was voted the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. TCU’s Cooper Woestendick earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year while head coach David Roditi was named Big 12 Coach of the Year. Baylor’s Alexandru Chirita rounded out the men’s awards with the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honor.
Smith is ranked as the No. 5 men’s singles player according to the latest ITA rankings and finished the season undefeated. The senior is the first Wildcat to garner the award.
Friend was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year and boasted a 3.9 GPA while studying economics. The junior is the No. 6 player in men’s singles according to the latest ITA rankings and is 21-1 in singles dual match play this season.
Woestendick became the second Horned Frog in the last three seasons to collect Big 12 Freshman of the Year and finished the season with a 10-1 record in singles.
Chirita became the first Bear to win the award since Charlie Broom in 2021. The graduate transfer from Romania played mostly at the No. 4 court and owns a 15-5 singles record.
Roditi was named Big 12 Coach of the Year after guiding the Horned Frogs to the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Men’s Championship with a 22-3 record this season. It is his fifth career distinction and third honor in the last four years.
On the women’s side, five different programs earned yearly honors. UCF’s Olivia Lincer was named Big 12 Player of the Year while Oklahoma State’s Rose Marie Nijkamp earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Na Dong of Baylor was selected as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Arizona’s Tanvi Narendran was recognized as the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year to conclude the individual player awards.
Lincer earned Player of the Year a year after being named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She becomes the first Knight to win multiple Conference yearly awards after concluding the year with a 16-2 record and an 11-1 record in league play.
Nijkamp gives the Cowgirls their first recipient of the Freshman of Year honor since 2022 when Mhai Sawangkaew represented OSU. The freshman locked into the No. 1 doubles spot all year with Anastasiya Komar for a 20-2 record and they are currently ranked as the No. 5 doubles pair in the country. She added a 16-1 record and a national ranking of 116 in singles play.
Dong is the Bears’ first honoree for the newcomer award since Sona Novakova in 2011. The freshman standout racked up a 26-3 resume in singles including her last 14 matches.
Arizona’s Tanvi Narendran was recognized as the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The junior neuroscience major with a minor in prelaw and Spanish competed in every match for the Wildcats and is graduating as the valedictorian after only three years.
Adam Herendeen of Texas Tech was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, joining Todd Petty as the only coaches to receive the distinction for Texas Tech. In his second season at the helm, Herendeen led Tech to a share of the regular season Conference title as well as the Big 12 Championship trophy.
TCU led the men’s All-Big 12 selections with six combined spots in singles and doubles while UCF and Oklahoma State each received four selections in the singles and doubles teams.
Men’s Awards
Player of the Year- Colton Smith, Arizona
Freshman of the Year- Cooper Woestendick, TCU
Newcomer of the Year- Alexandru Chirita, Baylor
Scholar-Athlete of the Year- Jay Friend, Arizona
Coach of the Year- David Roditi, TCU
All-Big 12 First Team Singles
Jay Friend, Arizona
Colton Smith, Arizona
Bor Artnak, Arizona State
Devin Badenhorst, Baylor
Zsombor Velcz, Baylor
Mehdi Benchakroun, UCF
Yassine Dlimi, UCF
Isaac Becroft, Oklahoma State
Lui Maxted, TCU
Jack Pinnington, TCU
Pedro Vives, TCU
Cooper Woestendick, TCU
All-Big 12 First Team Doubles
Jay Friend/Eric Padgham, Arizona
Colton Smith/Inaki Cabrera, Arizona
Devin Badenhorst/Luc Koenig, Baylor
Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/Marko Miladinovic, Baylor
Lui Maxted/Pedro Vives, TCU
Jack Pinnington/Cooper Woestendick, TCU
Women’s Awards
Player of the Year- Olivia Lincer, UCF
Freshman of the Year- Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State
Newcomer of the Year- Na Dong, Baylor
Scholar-Athlete of the Year- Tanvi Narendran, Arizona
Coach of the Year- Adam Herendeen, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 First Team Singles
Josie Usereau, Arizona
Sara Svetac, Arizona State
Emilija Tverijonaite, Arizona State
Yujia (Bobo) Huang, BYU
Sophia Biolay, UCF
Aya El Aouni, UCF
Olivia Lincer, UCF
Gracie Mulville, Kansas
Melisa Ercan, Oklahoma State
Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State
Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State
Yekaterina Dmitrichenko, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 First Team Doubles
Cristina Tiglea/Liubov Kostenko, Baylor
Olivia Lincer/Hannah Rylatt, UCF
Heike Janse Van Vuuren/Gracie Mulville, Kansas
Anastasiya Komar/Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State
Jade Otway/Isabel Pascual, TCU
Avelina Sayfetdinova/Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 Second Team Singles
Midori Castillo-Meza, Arizona
Na Dong, Baylor
Liubov Kostenko, Baylor
Mila Stanojevic, Colorado
Julia Camblor, Iowa State
Anna Supapitch Kuearum, Iowa State
Kyoka Kubo, Kansas
Maralgoo Chogsomjav, Kansas State
Gracie Epps, Oklahoma State
Jade Otway, TCU
Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech
Emma Kamper, Utah
All-Big 12 Second Team Doubles
Josie Usereau/Danielle Tuhten, Arizona
Patricija Spaka/Lily Taylor, Arizona State
Sophia Biolay/Aya El Aouni, UCF
Anna Supapitch Kuearum/Cristina Ramos Sierra, Iowa State
Kylie Collins/Marcela Lopez, Oklahoma State
Yekaterina Dmitrichenko/Hailey Murphy, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 Freshman Team
Lily Taylor, Arizona State
Aya El Aouni, UCF
Olivia Bergler, UCF
Julia Camblor, Iowa State
Melisa Ercan, Oklahoma State
Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State