TEANECK, N.J.- For the second year in a row, FDU Knights women's tennis is representing the NEC at the ITA Conference Masters Championship. Oleksandra Ovsiienko will be the 2025 representative for the women's singles bracket.
Ovsiienko, a freshman, won nine of her first ten matches as an FDU Knight this fall. At the NateRentals.com Binghamton Invitational, she fought her way to the championship of the A flight singles bracket, facing off against fellow Knight Anastasia Lim in the final round.
This is the first time Ovsiienko has played on a team, a big adjustment from her competitive history in Ukraine and Croatia. A positive byproduct of this change is the support her Knights family provides her.
"I wanted to show myself, of course, wanted to prove [myself] but also it's so nice to have a team when people support you," Ovsiienko said. "Everything here, for me, is new. I never played with a team. I never had an experience like this. So it's really hard to tell only one big adjustment, but maybe first of all, tennis now is a team sport."
When being recruited, Ovsiienko was already equipped with the talent to be a difference maker for the Knights, however her continued growth throughout the recruiting process was not understated by head coach Alex Cole.
"Since we started talking, she improved dramatically," Cole said. "So it was one of those great stories where we were talking to her, we were hoping to bring her in, and by the time she got here, she was, you know, playing even better than when we were originally talking to her. So she had a really good summer, playing a lot of junior tournaments in Europe. So that was exciting, because we knew she was good, but she came in even better."
Ovsiienko constantly referenced back to her time playing and her experience regarding her continued growth. As the quality of her opponents increased, so too did the quality of her own play.
"I really, by myself, didn't expect to grow," Ovsiienko said. "I played a lot this summer…It's a lot of experience, better opponents, you play better against better opponents."
She spent the months of May-August playing in junior tournaments across Europe. Now, that she has hit the hard courts in the United States, she is benefiting from her willingness to adapt.
"She's easy to coach, yeah. So that's the number one thing," stated Cole. "We've had a lot of matches already this year where she's very responsive to what we see from the side of the court, and she's able to execute and implement that very quickly in matches, so very, very coachable in the moment, which makes a huge difference in college tennis."
For the program, the ITA Masters is not new territory, with Namie Isago '25, competing at the tournament last fall in Georgia. The Knights' return to the tournament is indicative of their success by both the players on the court, and the coaches helping develop them.
"It's exciting. I think it's one of the best individual opportunities that we have in in our conference and in college tennis, because there's a pathway now to play bigger events outside of the conference," Cole said. "And having Namie [Isago] last year win it and go to Georgia and then, of course, Sasha this year winning the individuals, to get that bid to go to San Diego. I think it's going to create good competition amongst the squad, and hopefully we can keep setting a bit of a trend."
Throughout her first month as a Knight, she took home additional accolades, including NEC Rookie of the Month and NEC player of the month. She also went undefeated through her first collegiate tournament, going 4-0 at the Bill and Sandra Moore Invitational, hosted by Navy. She additionally won nine of her first 10 matches, currently residing at 10-4 through the fall portion of the season.
The Knights look to recapture the NEC championship this spring. Until then, it is Ovsiienko who is chasing an opportunity of her own on the west coast.
Ovsiienko plans to be at her best in San Diego, Calif. She plays on Nov. 6, the first day of the tournament.
"I'm planning to show my best tennis," she concluded.
