BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Five members of the St. Olaf College women's tennis earned postseason accolades as part of the 2024-25 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Tennis Awards, as announced on Tuesday.

Senior Olha Zubarieva, junior Alexandra Berns, senior Fiona O'Flaherty, senior Jane Spading, and senior Sarah Clark were all honored in the annual postseason conference awards, highlighted by Zubarieva being named the recipient of the MIAC Chris Evert Award. Tuesday's announcement made Zubarieva the sixth Ole to earn the MIAC Chris Evert Award in recognition of her sportsmanship and exemplary athletic, academic, and humanitarian accomplishments.

A chemistry major with a 3.98 cumulative grade-point average, Zubarieva is a two-time Academic All-MIAC and two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-District ® honoree. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa – the oldest and most highly-regarded honor society in the country – and will be attending Yale University next year to pursue a PhD. During her time on campus, Zubarieva has been a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB), Ole Leadership Academy, St. Olaf Chemistry Society, Oles for Opportunity, and has volunteered for Special Olympics events. She has also been a supplemental instruction leader/mentor for introduction to chemistry and calculus classes, while also serving as a new student orientation leader.

On the court, Zubarieva earned All-MIAC honors in doubles and was an honorable-mention honoree in singles this year. The All-MIAC accolade was her third in doubles, while she also earned her third conference-wide recognition in singles. The senior finished 10-9 overall and 4-6 in the MIAC at No. 1 singles, while going 14-5 overall and 6-4, in the MIAC at No. 1 doubles. A four-year No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles player, Zubarieva concluded her career 43-29 in singles and 45-28 in doubles.

Berns, O'Flaherty, and Spading all landed All-MIAC honors in both singles and doubles, while Clark represented St. Olaf on the MIAC All-Playoff Team. Clark won the decisive third-set tiebreaker to finish off St. Olaf's 4-3 quarterfinal victory over St. Catherine University.

Berns was an All-MIAC honoree in doubles for the second season in a row and picked up her first All-MIAC accolade in singles. The junior finished the season 10-4 overall and 7-3 in the MIAC in singles while holding down the No. 4 spot in the lineup. She also paired with O'Flaherty for an 8-2 mark at No. 2 doubles in the conference as part of a 12-7 overall season in doubles with three different partners.

O'Flaherty collected her second consecutive All-MIAC accolade in singles and moved up from the honorable-mention list to the All-MIAC list in doubles. O'Flaherty was a team-best 15-3 overall in singles and finished 8-2 in the MIAC at No. 3 singles, with her 15 wins tying for the most by an Ole since at least 2009-10. Her 51 career singles wins are eight more than any other Ole over that time period.

Spading was a second-time honoree in doubles and a first-time honoree in singles after posting double-digit wins in both formats in her senior campaign. She recorded a 13-6 overall record in singles and went 6-4 in conference play at the No. 2 spot, while pairing with Zubarieva for a 14-5 overall mark and a 6-4 conference record at No. 1 doubles.

St. Olaf finished the season with a 13-4 record for its highest single-season win total since also winning 13 matches in 2010-11. The Oles went 7-3 in conference play and advanced to the semifinals of the MIAC Playoffs before falling to nationally-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College.