
Six Lady Flames Included in Conference USA Postseason Honors
4/29/2025 12:48:00 PM | Women's Tennis
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty women's tennis team was nearly fully included across seven different Conference USA Postseason Awards, with six different selections, the conference announced on Tuesday. Yu-Yun Chen was named the CUSA Freshman of the Year, along with a spot on the All-Conference doubles second team and All-Freshman team.
Liberty received two selections, Yoanna Radulova and Daniella O'Neill, to the All-CUSA Singles second team. A pair of Lady Flames doubles duos, including O'Neill with Maria Turchetto and Chen with Celina Joseph, were named to the All-CUSA Doubles second team. Two freshmen, Chen and Anika Lemus, were honored with spots on the All-Freshman team.
Among athletes, Liberty received the second most total awards, beating out Louisiana Tech with six total and trailing FIU with 11. The Lady Flames tied FIU for the most athletes with six included across all postseason honors.
Liberty was the only program with two All-Freshman selections, with Chen and Lemus named to the All-Freshman team. Radulova, also a freshman, only received inclusion on the All-CUSA singles second team.
O'Neill and Turchetto receive their second inclusion in CUSA postseason honors. Both athletes were named to the 2024 CUSA All-Freshman team last season.
Yu-Yun Chen – Freshman of the Year, All-CUSA Second Team Doubles, All-Freshman Team
Yoanna Radulova – All-CUSA Second Team Singles
Daniella O'Neill – All-CUSA Second Team Singles, All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
Maria Turchetto – All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
Celina Joseph – All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
Anika Lemus – All-Freshman Team
2025 CUSA Women's Tennis Superlatives & All-Conference Teams
Freshman of the Year: Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen
Newcomer of the Year: LA Tech, Mio Kozaki
Player of the Year: FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova
Doubles Team of the Year: FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova & Valery Gynina
Singles Player of the Year: FIU, Valery Gynina
Coach of the Year: LA Tech, Amy Sargent
All-CUSA First Team Singles
FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova
FIU, Oyinlomo Quadre
FIU, Valery Gynina
FIU, Katerina Madelikova
FIU, Aleksandra Simeva
KSU, Ema Baraniakova
LA Tech, Zoie Epps
MTSU, Alessia Truden
All-CUSA Second Team Singles
Jax State, Zuzana Pavelekova
Liberty, Daniella O'Neill
Liberty, Yoanna Radulova
LA Tech, Ana Rodrigues
MTSU, Cassidy Mataia
UTEP, Carlotta Mencaglia
WKU, Sofia Blanco
WKU, Rachel Hermanova
All-CUSA First Team Doubles
FIU, Katerina Madelikova & Oyinlomo Quadre
FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova & Valery Gynina
KSU, Ema Baraniakova & Sofia Madrid
LA Tech, Zoie Epps & Ana Rodrigues
All-CUSA Second Team Doubles
Liberty, Daniella O'Neill & Maria Turchetto
Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen & Celina Joseph
LA Tech, Mio Kozaki & Nina Skoric
MTSU, Alessia Truden & Rutuja Chaphalkar
All-Freshman Team
FIU, Dana Baidaulet
Jax State, Lea Erenda
KSU, Che Nel
Liberty, Anika Lemus
Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen
LA Tech, June Vigneron
Liberty received two selections, Yoanna Radulova and Daniella O'Neill, to the All-CUSA Singles second team. A pair of Lady Flames doubles duos, including O'Neill with Maria Turchetto and Chen with Celina Joseph, were named to the All-CUSA Doubles second team. Two freshmen, Chen and Anika Lemus, were honored with spots on the All-Freshman team.
Among athletes, Liberty received the second most total awards, beating out Louisiana Tech with six total and trailing FIU with 11. The Lady Flames tied FIU for the most athletes with six included across all postseason honors.
Liberty was the only program with two All-Freshman selections, with Chen and Lemus named to the All-Freshman team. Radulova, also a freshman, only received inclusion on the All-CUSA singles second team.
O'Neill and Turchetto receive their second inclusion in CUSA postseason honors. Both athletes were named to the 2024 CUSA All-Freshman team last season.
Yu-Yun Chen – Freshman of the Year, All-CUSA Second Team Doubles, All-Freshman Team
- Chen is Liberty's first-ever CUSA Freshman of the Year and its first superlative recipient in two years in the conference
- The freshman totaled a 17-10 singles mark and a 17-10 doubles record for the year. She tallied a 12-7 spring singles record and a 14-9 spring doubles mark.
- She took over the No. 2 singles position on March 21, tallying a 4-3 record, including a six-match winning streak in eight matches from Feb. 28-March 23 with a 2-2 CUSA record.
- Chen recorded an 11-6 record with Celina Joseph in the No. 3 doubles slot. She finished the season with a four-match winning streak and a 6-1 CUSA mark.
Yoanna Radulova – All-CUSA Second Team Singles
- Took over the No. 1 singles position for Liberty on March 1, finishing with a 14-12 overall record and an 8-10 singles mark. She tallied a 2-7 mark at No. 1 singles and a 6-3 mark at No. 2 and 3 singles.
- The freshman recorded a 6-2 singles record in the fall season.
- She beat Clemson's No. 3 Romana Ciskova 5-7, 7-6 (1), 1-0 (8) on Jan. 19.
- Radulova had five matches go unfinished playing at No. 1 singles.
Daniella O'Neill – All-CUSA Second Team Singles, All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
- The redshirt sophomore totaled a 13-11 singles record with an 8-9 mark in the spring. She recorded a 5-0 mark at No. 3 singles player with a 3-9 record between No. 1 (six matches) and No. 2 singles.
- O'Neill went 4-1 in CUSA singles action in the No. 3 position.
- She bested Wake Forest's No. 2 singles 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, and topped No. 64 Tulane's No. 2 singles competitor 6-0, 6-2.
- In doubles with partner Maria Turchetto, recorded an 11-11 record in the No. 1 doubles position and a 6-1 mark in CUSA play.
- Named to back-to-back CUSA Doubles Pair of the Week with Turchetto on March 26, April 2.
- The pair went 3-2 at the ITA Conference Master's Championship in the fall.
- They held a six-match doubles winning streak from March 16-April 5.
Maria Turchetto – All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
- Turchetto recorded an 11-11 record in the No. 1 doubles position and a 6-1 mark in CUSA play.
- The sophomore was named to back-to-back CUSA Doubles Pair of the Week with partner O'Neill, on March 26, April 2.
- The pair went 3-2 at the ITA Conference Master's Championship in the fall.
- They held a six-match doubles winning streak from March 16-April 5.
Celina Joseph – All-CUSA Doubles Second Team
- The freshman recorded an 11-6 record with Chen in the No. 3 doubles slot.
- She finished the season with a four-match doubles winning streak.
- Joseph and Chen went 6-1 in CUSA action.
Anika Lemus – All-Freshman Team
- The freshman totaled a 14-13 singles record with a 9-10 mark in the spring.
- She finished the season with a 6-1 mark and a 3-1 record in CUSA matches.
- Lemus went 1-0 in two singles matches at the CUSA Championship with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jacksonville State's Terezia Baraiakova and went unfinished leading FIU's Petja Drame 7-6, 4-0.
- In doubles, she tallied a 7-12 record playing primarily in the No. 2 doubles position with Radulova.
2025 CUSA Women's Tennis Superlatives & All-Conference Teams
Freshman of the Year: Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen
Newcomer of the Year: LA Tech, Mio Kozaki
Player of the Year: FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova
Doubles Team of the Year: FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova & Valery Gynina
Singles Player of the Year: FIU, Valery Gynina
Coach of the Year: LA Tech, Amy Sargent
All-CUSA First Team Singles
FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova
FIU, Oyinlomo Quadre
FIU, Valery Gynina
FIU, Katerina Madelikova
FIU, Aleksandra Simeva
KSU, Ema Baraniakova
LA Tech, Zoie Epps
MTSU, Alessia Truden
All-CUSA Second Team Singles
Jax State, Zuzana Pavelekova
Liberty, Daniella O'Neill
Liberty, Yoanna Radulova
LA Tech, Ana Rodrigues
MTSU, Cassidy Mataia
UTEP, Carlotta Mencaglia
WKU, Sofia Blanco
WKU, Rachel Hermanova
All-CUSA First Team Doubles
FIU, Katerina Madelikova & Oyinlomo Quadre
FIU, Ekaterina Khairutdinova & Valery Gynina
KSU, Ema Baraniakova & Sofia Madrid
LA Tech, Zoie Epps & Ana Rodrigues
All-CUSA Second Team Doubles
Liberty, Daniella O'Neill & Maria Turchetto
Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen & Celina Joseph
LA Tech, Mio Kozaki & Nina Skoric
MTSU, Alessia Truden & Rutuja Chaphalkar
All-Freshman Team
FIU, Dana Baidaulet
Jax State, Lea Erenda
KSU, Che Nel
Liberty, Anika Lemus
Liberty, Yu-Yun Chen
LA Tech, June Vigneron
Players Mentioned
Coach Connell Talks About The Win Over KSU
Thursday, April 17
Joaquim Almeida Talks About The Upcoming CUSA Tournament
Tuesday, April 15
Daniella O'Neill Talks About The Upcoming CUSA Tournament
Tuesday, April 15
Joaquim Almeida: Finding the Lord and Liberty
Friday, April 11