Women's Tennis 4/23/2026 4:04:00 PM Kelly Cassette

Klimas, Hammond, Piechowicz, and Brown Earn Horizon League Postseason Honors

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Horizon League announced its postseason All-League awards Thursday afternoon, with Oakland earning five honors: three All-League team selections, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Freshman Oliwia Klimas was named Freshman of the Year and picked to the All-League First Team, junior Edie Hammond and sophomore Martyna Piechowicz were selected to the All-League Second Team, and head coach David Brown was honored as Coach of the Year.

Klimas led Oakland in singles play, finishing the regular season with a 13-4 record, including a 2-0 mark at the No. 2 singles court and an 11-4 record on the No. 3 court. The freshman from Poland went 5-0 in conference singles play and was runner-up at this year's Horizon League Individual Singles Championship, with her only loss coming to teammate Piechowicz. Her Freshman of the Year award marks the third straight year the Golden Grizzlies have received the honor, following sophomore Nisa Bulut last season and junior Emilia Jarvinen two seasons ago.

Hammond and Piechowicz each collected the first postseason honors of their career. Hammond posted the team's second-best singles record at 11-7 during the regular season and, like Klimas, went undefeated in conference play. In the fall, she went unbeaten in both singles and doubles at the Rocket Indoor Invitational. Piechowicz, who primarily played at No. 1 singles, won this year's Horizon League Individual Singles Championship, defeating every opponent she faced, including the league's Player of the Year.

Sharing Coach of the Year honors with Northern Kentucky's head coach, Brown becomes the first Oakland coach to receive the award in Horizon League history. After leading the Golden Grizzlies to their first Horizon League regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in both the preseason poll and the conference tournament, Brown has guided the program to one of its best seasons ever as the team looks to secure its first Horizon League tournament title.

The Golden Grizzlies await the winner of the No. 4 Cleveland State vs. No. 5 IU Indianapolis matchup, and will face the advancing team on Saturday, April 25, at 3 p.m. (ET) at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Below is the full list of this year's Horizon League Women's Tennis Awards.

Player of the Year
Nel Van Hout, Milwaukee

Freshman of the Year
Oliwia Klimas, Oakland

Herb Foster Sportsmanship Awards
Honoka Yamashita, Milwaukee*
Lydia Foster, Youngstown State*

Coach of the Year
Brian Nester, Northern Kentucky
Dave Brown, Oakland

All-League First Team
Ella Franz, Cleveland State
Kally Kadzinski, IU Indy
Nel Van Hout, Milwaukee
Nadiia Konieva, Milwaukee
Oliwia Klimas, Oakland
Hanna Telzynska, Youngstown State

All-League Second Team
Anna Mancino, Cleveland State
Sydney Zakic, Northern Kentucky
Martyna Piechowicz, Oakland
Edie Hammond, Oakland
Lorena Cedeno, Youngstown State
Yeseniia Ovcharova, Youngstown State

Herb Foster Sportsmanship Award Finalists
Laura Tapia, Cleveland State
Calli Sokolowski, IU Indy
Honoka Yamashita, Milwaukee*
Haley Slay, Northern Kentucky
Emilia Jarvinen, Oakland
Lydia Foster, Youngstown State*

How to Follow Oakland Women's Tennis: For complete information on Oakland Women's Tennis, follow the team on Instagram at @oaklandtennis_ and on X at @OaklandWTennis.

Print Friendly Version