CSC Academic All-District® release
The College of Wooster women's tennis team's Janaki Jagannathan, Katie Materick, Kim Nguyen, and Charitha Patlolla were among the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® honorees, as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon.
Jagannathan, the 2021-22 North Coast Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, repeated as an all-conference singles and doubles player this spring, earning second-team laurels in singles and a third-team certificate in doubles. Jagannathan went 10-10 in singles, headlined by a 9-6 ledger in the second flight. In doubles, Jagannathan played No. 1 and went 10-17 with junior Otilia Oita and 10-18 overall. Jagannathan surpassed 50 career wins during the season and was a two-time NCAC Athlete of the Week this spring. Jagannathan clinched a 5-4 win over Washington College with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory at second singles. Over the first week of the spring break trip, Jagannathan went 4-0 with two wins at first doubles and two at second singles. The doubles win over Washington College capped a stretch of six straight wins with the doubles pairing of Jagannathan and Oita.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete is a Dean's List qualifier. The psychology major volunteers with the Wayne County Humane Society and is a member of the campus student organizations Mind Matters and Women of Images.
Materick went 9-7 in singles and 12-14 in doubles during the 2022-23 season. The senior primarily played second doubles and fifth or sixth singles for the Scots, and did move up to first doubles for an 8-4 NCAC win over Ohio Wesleyan University's Shanzay Ali and Katie Lee. The three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete's four-match winning streak in singles started with an 6-2, 6-1 win over Ohio Northern University's Katie O'Connell on March 4, and that came in the midst of winning seven singles matches in an eight-match stretch.
Nguyen went 11-8 in singles, primarily playing in the fourth flight. In doubles, the junior went 5-15. Nguyen provided the clinching point in the fourth singles match against Oberlin College, topping Lydia Zafeiri, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4, to secure Wooster's first NCAC Tournament quarterfinal win since 1999. Earlier in the season, Nguyen kicked off a stretch of five wins in a six-match span with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over John Carroll University's Kaylyn Gimbel at third singles, and she later won four straight matches, including NCAC tilts against Zafeiri (6-1, 6-1) and DePauw University's Valerie Doherty (2-6, 6-3, 6-1).
The neuroscience major, who is on track to graduate a semester early, spent last summer as a group counselor at the Cleveland Clinic, helping children with ADHD develop strong social skills and abilities in sports like soccer, softball, and basketball. Previously, Nguyen was an optometry intern and a hospital shadow near her hometown of Pickerington, Ohio. She is involved with the College's Wooster Community Hospital Community Care Network program. As a student health coach, Nguyen meets with local patients to help them work towards health and wellness goals and reduce the need for potentially unnecessary procedures and hospital visits. The junior also tutors students in various subjects at Edgewood Middle School.
Patlolla, an All-NCAC singles player as a first-year, followed that up with a 7-8 record in singles, which primarily consisted of playing out of the third flight. In doubles, Patlolla went 8-18, splitting time between the second and third flights. Patlolla scored two NCAC wins taking the second flight from Ohio Wesleyan's Kaitlyn Quinn 6-1, 6-0 and the third flight from Wittenberg University's PJ Meyers 6-4, 6-1. In doubles, Patlolla was also victorious against the Battling Bishops and Tigers, taking the first match 8-6 and the second one 8-1 while playing with junior Abby Aitken both times.
The biochemistry and molecular biology major is working with Dr. Ellyn Evans as a volunteer research assistant. The research looks at combatting climate change for crop sustainability and understanding the significance of the microbiome. Long-term, the ITA Scholar-Athlete is aiming to determine microbiome communities among crop plants, leading to studying the effects on animal gut microbiomes. On campus, Patlolla is a lab assistant in the Gateway/Molecular & Cell Biology Lab. Patlolla is responsible for setting up equipment, checking laboratory notebooks, and helping students with their experiments, laboratory reports, and checking in with the course instructor.
Elsewhere, Patlolla is involved with the Wooster Community Hospital Community Care Network program. Patlolla is a tour guide for Admissions, a tutor at Edgewood Middle School, and is the outreach coordinator for the South Asian student organization. She volunteered at a hospital in India last summer and was elected to serve on Scot Council, the College's student government body.
Wooster's quartet are on the Academic All-America® ballot, which is voted on by CSC members in advance of the announcement of the Academic All-America® team on June 1. Starting with the 2022-23 academic year, all eligible nominees submitted by member schools earn Academic All-District® status. Nominees were voted to the Academic All-District® Team in previous years and those winners advanced to the Academic All-America® ballot. This is the first year tennis is its own Academic All-America® contest. Previously, tennis was part of the at-large contest.