NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State's Silvia Pomarolli highlights the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Scholar-Athlete Team, as she was selected as the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Pomarolli, who also earned MVC Elite 18 honors at the MVC Tennis Championship, holds a 3.97 cumulative grade-point average as a psychology major. She was joined on the 2026 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team by teammates Lana Caculovic and Nicole Iosio.
Pomarolli capped a stellar senior campaign to earn All-MVC Second-Team honors, as she went 5-2 in MVC play with five matches at the No. 2 spot and a pair of wins at the No. 1 spot to end the season. The Cecina, Italy, native was 19-9 on the year overall in singles play and was also 5-2 in doubles action at the No. 1 spot for the Redbirds with partners Caculovic and Vittoria Benedetti.
Caculovic, who holds a 3.71 GPA in cybersecurity at ISU, played most of the season at the No. 1 singles position for the Redbirds. The senior from Dugo Selo, Croatia, posted a 13-9 doubles mark on the year including a 4-3 mark during MVC action playing with Pomarolli and Emma Lindh.
Iosio earned First-Team All-MVC honors at the No. 2 doubles position for the Redbirds with partner Nuria Sanz and was also named a Second-Team All-MVC selection at No. 4 singles. The sophomore from Cordenons, Italy, maintains a 3.91 GPA in biological sciences and posted a 6-1 mark in doubles during league play at the No. 2 position with Sanz, while going 5-2 as a singles player for the Redbirds during league matches.
The 2026 Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion Redbirds are headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on No. 12 seed Michigan in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Center. First serve is set for Noon CT.
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