MIAMI — FIU's women's tennis program was honored with a haul of postseason awards from Conference USA (CUSA), as announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The Panthers totaled 14 All-CUSA honors following their historic run to a third-straight Conference USA title last weekend. FIU's Ekaterina Khairutdinova was named the CUSA Player of the Year to headline the Panther selections. FIU also had five players selected to the First Team Singles roster and two pairs named First Team Doubles.
Khairtudinova and teammate Valery Gynina took home the Doubles Team of the Championship, specifically recognizing their excellence at the CUSA Championships. Gynina also notched Singles Player of the Championship, marking the second-straight year that she has received this honor. Dana Baidaulet also earned CUSA All-Freshman Team status.
On the first team for singles, Katerina Mandelikova, Oyinlomo Quadre and Aleksandra Simeva joined teammates Gynina and Khairutdinova as selections. In doubles, both Mandelikova / Quadre and Gynina / Khairutdinova were both honored on the First Team.
Khairutdinova earns Player of the Year for the second-straight season following an excellent 2025 campaign, during which she went 13-1 at FIU's No. 1 singles spot. The junior from Krasnodar, Russia provided the clinching win at the 2025 CUSA Championships and won the ITA Singles Southeast Regional Championship in the fall, a first in program history.
Additionally, her selection to the Singles First Team is the second of her career (2024). This is also her second time earning First Team status in Doubles (2023).
Khairutdinova and Gynina rolled to doubles' success at the 2025 CUSA Championships, with convincing wins in all three matches. Khairutdinova was honored with the same award in 2023 while Gynina takes her first Doubles Team of the Championship honor.
Gynina has also enjoyed a fantastic season, sporting a 13-2 record in singles. She showed her dominance once again in singles at the CUSA Championships, winning both of her completed matches in straight sets to earn her second-straight Singles Player of the Championship nod. The sophomore from Moscow, Russia also made it back-to-back seasons as a First Team singles selection and earned a First Team Doubles nod for the first time in her career.
Quadre continues to be a force for FIU and has now been named First Team in both Singles and Doubles for the last three seasons. She racked up 21 combined singles wins this season, going 13-3 this Spring. Her success in doubles with Mandelikova is well documented, entering this year as the sixth-ranked pairing nationally. The duo has gone 7-1 this season and will be FIU's top pairing as it prepares for the NCAA Tournament.
Mandelikova also earned First Team All-CUSA honors last season in both Singles and Doubles. She has now been named All-CUSA in both Singles and Doubles in all three seasons at FIU. The junior from Ropice, Czech Republic racked up a combined record of 23-8 this season.
Simeva's excellence has shown in her first season as a consistent presence in the lineup, posting a 5-2 record in singles. She continued to build on a strong campaign with two key victories in straight sets at the CUSA Championships. This is the first All-CUSA honor of her career for the sophomore from North Macedonia.
Baidaulet earns All-Freshman status, collecting eight wins in her first season as a Panther. She had singles wins over opponents from Houston and USF and doubles wins over teams from Liberty and Delaware.
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