WICHITA, Kan. – Women's tennis head coach Colin Foster announced the addition of former Miami Hurricane Tatyana Nikolenko to his squad's 2024-25 roster on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Nikolenko, a native of Oskemen, Kazakhstan, joins the Shockers after a year away from college tennis. She spent the 2022 and 2023 spring seasons competing for coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews at Miami.

"Tatyana brings a ton of international and college experience with her to our team," said Foster. "She is excited to reenter college tennis and bring that experience she has to this group."
 
In her time in the Sunshine State, Nikolenko picked up wins over opponents from Texas, Notre Dame, Louisville, Boston College, UCF, and Stetson. This includes two singles wins from the 2022 NCAA National Championship. 
 
Nikolenko competed in doubles at Miami largely with Maya Tahan, who is now an assistant coach for the Shockers. The duo went 5-4 competing together across two years at Miami.
 
Nikolenko will provide winning experience to the Shocker lineup, coming from a Miami team that went 35-14 overall in her time there, including three match wins at the NCAA Tennis National Championship.
 
Prior to Miami, Nikolenko enjoyed a very successful career at the junior level, being ranked as high as No. 53 in the ITF Junior rankings in January of 2021. She is currently ranked #1339 by the Women's Tennis Association. She competed in both the 2021 Wimbledon Junior Championship and the US Open Junior Championship. Additionally, she won five junior titles including one J2, three J3 events, and one J4.

"We've had a great fall semester already and made significant progress," said Foster "To have someone familliar with college tennis joining this team in January will help her acclimate quickly."
 
Nikolenko will arrive at Wichita State in the spring and will be classified as a junior. The 2024-25 women's tennis roster now sits at eight players.