Women’s Tennis Announces Signees

University of Evansville Head Women’s Tennis Coach Jayson Wiseman has announced the signing of three freshman student athletes who will join the Purple Aces for next season. This impressive international class will include Diana Tkachenko, Theodora Soldatou, and Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga.

Tkachenko comes to Evansville from Russia where she and her twin sister attend school and have been playing many international ITF tennis events. Diana and her sister posted and impressive 11-5 record in international ITF doubles play and Diana is currently ranked 1688 in the world. Diana, who was born in New Jersey, and has dual United States and Russian citizenships.

“Diana has an excellent all court game that will translate well to the American hard courts and indoor courts that we play the majority of our schedule on. She is also an accomplished doubles player and I expect her to make and immediate impact in both the doubles and singles lineup.”

Soldatou comes to the Purple Aces from Athens, Greece. Theodora also boasts extensive ITF tournament experience and has achieved success in both singles and doubles. She has also played ITF Professional events as an amateur.

“Theda brings fantastic intelligence to the court and the classroom and is a fantastic fit for our program and school. In addition to being an excellent tennis player, she is a student of the game who is committed to maximizing her abilities both on and off the court.”

Pascual-Larrinaga comes to UE from Basauri, Spain.  Andrea has extensive experience playing in the Spanish Tennis Federation where she was top 60 in the country as a junior and top 150 in the adult rankings. She has a number of impressive wins over players ranked in the top 60 of the RFET adult rankings. She has also won a number of state, regional, and national events in Spain.

“Andrea brings a ton of tournament experience with her to UE and is incredibly match tough. Despite growing up on the red clay, in addition to the toughness and endurance necessary to be successful on clay, she has shown the ability to play an aggressive all court style on hard courts. Her tactical and skill diversity will serve her well on the college level.”

All three will join the program in the fall of 2016.