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 did not lose 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.

Poulakidas repeated doubles honors for a second straight season at No. 2 doubles. With partner and sophomore Sunna Maass, the two complied 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 on the week of Oct. 13.

Juniors Annika Kellerer and Ella Boddington enter 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 on the week of Apr. 6.

Senior Harshri Asher makes her All-ODAC debut at No. 3 singles, where she broke out with a team-high 18 wins. 10 of those wins were at the third slot, and lost just a single conference match to go along with seven victories. Asher was previously named ODAC Singles Player of the Week on the week of Oct. 13.

Junior Siddhi Khot also makes 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 ever ODAC Singles Player of the Week award on 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. 

11 more laurels takes 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