The Kalamazoo College women's tennis team had three student-athletes named to All-MIAA teams on Wednesday (Apr. 26). Renee Torres was selected as the 2023 MIAA Most Valuable Player and to her second career All-MIAA First Team. Sophie Zhuang earned the 2023 Karen Caine Award as the top scholar-athlete in the MIAA and to her third All-MIAA team, with this year being a first-team selection and the previous two being second-team selections. Finally, Meghan Killmaster collected second-team honors for her first career All-MIAA selection.
Kalamazoo finished the 2023 regular season with an 11-6 record, including an undefeated 7-0 MIAA record, which resulted in its first MIAA Championship since 2007. The Hornets collected non-conference wins over Augustana, Marywood, Salisbury, and Huntingdon and an exhibition win over Olivet to add to their undefeated conference record.
As a senior from Northville, Mich., Torres took on the role of playing #1 singles and doubles for Kalamazoo in 2023. She has a 13-5 singles record, including a 6-1 MIAA record and a 1-1 record against regionally ranked opponents. Torres has played all her doubles matches with her partner, Sophie Zhuang, and is currently 12-9 with a 6-1 MIAA record. She is the first Hornet to earn MVP honors since Kalamazoo Hall of Famer Sarah Woods won four straight from 2013-16.
Zhuang is also a senior from Northville, Mich., playing in the #1 doubles and the #2 singles for the Hornets. In the regular season, Zhuang went 9-9 in singles matches with a 6-1 record in MIAA contests. Like Torres, she played all her doubles matches with the same partner and is currently 12-9 with a 6-1 MIAA record. The Karen Caine Award is named after the former long-term Adrian women's tennis coach as a scholar-athlete honor. As a Biochemistry major with a minor in Psychology and a neuroscience concentration, Zhuang boasts a grade-point average of 3.66. Zhuang juggled an intense curriculum as a senior captain, SAAC President, and a teacher's assistant. Head coach Mark Murphy stated, "Sophie is a great tennis player, but her superpower is her ability to lift her teammates, and she loves to compete ... She competes with integrity and class." Zhuang has won a two-year post-baccalaureate doing lung cancer research at the National Institute of Health. Afterward, she plans on attending medical school.
Rounding out the trio of seniors is Killmaster, who hails from Midland, Mich., and competes in the #2 doubles and the #3 singles. She went 5-1 in MIAA matches, accounting for five of her six singles wins in the regular season. Killmaster went 8-8 in doubles matches during the regular season with a 4-2 MIAA record. She played 13 matches with Maddie Hurley and another three with Ivy Walker.
The Hornets will take on Calvin in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday (Apr. 26) with a chance to advance to the tournament finals.