SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Over the past 31 years women's tennis has been played on the campus of USC Upstate and at the close of the 2020 tennis season, the Spartans/Rifles program ends with 241 overall victories and 101 conference wins.
Since 1989 the program has seen both highs and lows, with the best stretch coming in the final three seasons of the Division II era. From 2005-2007 the Spartans collected 46 wins and reached the NCAA Regionals all three seasons. In 2007 the squad reached the NCAA Nationals and were ranked seventh in the country a program best.
In the spring of 2008 the team made the jump to Division I and they never missed a beat. USC Upstate went 17-3 overall and went a perfect 11-0 in ASUN competition to take home the ASUN regular season championship. For the Spartans it was their first regular season championship since the 1992 season, when the Lady Rifles went a perfect 12-0 overall and 4-0 in the Peach Belt Conference.
As a team the Spartans/Rifles had 22 all-conference selections, nine all-freshman team members and 13 conference player of the week nods. Off the court the Spartans won in the classroom as they boasted 60 all-academic team members. 16 Spartans became ITA Scholar Athletes and the 2008, 2018 and 2019 squads were all recognized as ITA All-Academic Teams.
Individually the USC Upstate women's tennis team currently has three former athletes enshrined in the USC Upstate Athletic Hall of Fame, Martha Cobo, Anna Novo and Kristina Ribicic.
Cobo played for USC Spartanburg between 1988-92, she was a Volvo Tennis Scholar Athlete in 1991-92 and earned the Peach Belt Athletic Conference Academic Award for having the highest academic average among female athletes.
Ribicic played from 1999-2003 and helped revive the tennis program in the early 2000's. Ribicic ranks fifth all-time in combined wins with 87 victories. Her 46 singles wins and 41 doubles wins ranked fifth all-time in school history on the day of her induction ceremony. Off the court Ribicic was a four-time member of the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Academic Honor Roll.
Novo is arguably the best tennis player in program history, boasting 161 combined wins, 90 career singles victories, 71 career doubles wins, 52 combined wins in a season (2007-08) and 47 singles wins in a season (2008-09). Novo is the only women's tennis player in program history to be named a two-time ITA Singles All-American. Novo began her career as the 2006 Peach Belt Freshman of the Year and she finished her career as the 2008 ASUN Player of the Year.
Other standouts include, 1992 Peach Belt Player of the Year Missy O'Neil, two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American Diana Martinez, two-time ASUN All-Academic team member Carol Sigaki and three-time first-team All-ASUN performer Isabel Von Stryk.
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