2026 NJCAA D1 Women’s Tennis All-Americans | 2026 NJCAA D1 Women’s Tennis National Championship

SUMTER, SC – Earning five national runner-up finishes across singles and doubles play, the Cowley College women’s tennis team finished the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 women’s tennis season with an NJCAA Runner-Up finish at the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Tennis Championships held at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina, May 2-6, 2026.

Earning a team total of 32 points, the Tigers earned the best finish of the four Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference schools that competed in the National Tournament and trailed only Hillsborough College, which earned their second-straight NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Tennis National Title with 45 total points after sweeping all six singles titles and all three doubles titles for a perfect team score.

Following Cowley in the team standings was Collin College, which took third with 23 total points, while St. Petersburg College took fourth with 20.5 points. Barton Community College placed fifth with 19 total points. Pratt (14 points) and Seward County (six points) placed seventh and 10th overall, respectively.

With individuals advancing to the National Title matches at number two singles, number four singles, number five singles, number six singles, and number one doubles, the Tigers landed five individuals on the NJCAA All-America teams, as seven individuals from the KJCCC earned second-team NJCAA All-American honors for their runner-up performances. In addition to the six individuals from Cowley and one from Barton, Collin College had one individual earn All-America honors, and Tyler Junior College had four individuals named All-Americans while Hillsborough College swept all spots on the First-Team All-America teams.

At number one doubles, Cowley’s Naghely Garcia Galian and Cynthia Wanjala took down Pratt’s Sandra Rodriguez and Ilse Smaalders by scores of 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semifinal round, where they defeated Daniela Garcia and Daniela Vivas Valencia (St. Petersburg) by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the National Title match, Garcia Galian and Wanjala took on number two seed Younsoo Cho and Sydney Stark of Hillsborough College and were defeated by walkover as the match never officially took place.

Wanjala was also the national runner-up at number two singles, defeating Weatherford College’s Valeria Cabrera 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals before taking down Daniela Garcia of St. Petersburg in three sets with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to advance to the National Title match. The next day against Salomea Jasiczek, Wanjala dropped the opening set 7-5 and was trailing 4-2 in the second set before retiring.

The lone KJCCC student-athlete not from Cowley to earn NJCAA All-America honors, Barton’s Grace Tchamoussa took down Weatherford’s Juliana Jurado 7-5, 6-3 in her opening match before winning 6-2, 6-3 over Nobuhle Zungu of Collin College in the semifinal round. Tchamoussa’s success could not continue once reaching the National Title match, falling to Sydney Stark of Hillsborough by a score of 6-0, 6-2, and settling for a national runner-up finish.

Entering number three singles as the number three seed, Cowley’s Chiho Takada defeated St. Petersburg’s Anna Schmidt 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinal round before upsetting Collin’s Nao Watanabe with a 6-2, 6-3 win to advance to the National Title match. Facing off against Noah Rojas, who had dropped a total of five games across four sets in the tournament leading into the title match, Takada fell 6-1, 6-1 to finish as national runner-up.

A strong showing for Lisa Takamura at number five singles saw the freshman take down USC-Sumter’s Dana Espinoza 6-1, 6-3 before having to battle through a three-set victory (7-6, 1-6, 6-1) over number three-seed Sylvie Peart of Tyler Junior College to advance to the title match. The three-set match the day prior proved to be a bit too much for Takamura, however, as Hillsborough’s Aisulu Zholbolat earned a 6-2, 6-3 win in the championship match.

Cowley’s final All-American came courtesy of Kendra Arsotegui at number six singles as the number three-seed defeated Pratt’s Alyse Zimmerman 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round before upsetting number two seed Idom Cho of Tyler Junior College by a score of 2-6, 6-0, 6-3. In the National Title match, Arsotegui fell to top-seeded Emily Lederer by a score of 6-1, 6-3, despite being the only competitor in the tournament to win multiple games off the Hillsborough College freshman in the tournament.