Friday, February 6
Denver, Colo.
1:00 PM MT
Air Force Academy
at
Denver
Women’s Tennis Heads to Denver for Friday Matinee with DU
2/5/2026 1:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Head Coach Taylor Hollander recaps NAU weekend, discusses expectations ahead of DU
Air Force Women's Tennis gets back to work on Friday afternoon, taking on DU at the Denver Tennis Park at 1 p.m. MT.
Road Warriors:
The Falcons' meeting with Denver marks the sixth leg of a nine-match road swing to open the 2026 dual season. Following the DU match on Friday, Air Force is slated for a Feb. 14 meeting with Army in Orlando for College MatchDay, followed by a pair of duals against Oklahoma and Arkansas on Feb. 22 in Norman before opening at the Academy against North Florida on Feb. 27.
DU at a Glance:
Denver, the 11-time Summit League title holder, is currently 3-0 in dual action, most recently picking up a 4-2 win over Colorado on Feb. 1. To date, the Pioneers are a combined 15-2 in dual singles competition and 5-3 in doubles play.
Last Time Out:
Air Force split results on a two-match weekend in Flagstaff, picking up a 4-1 win over New Mexico State (Jan. 31) and falling to host Northern Arizona, 5-2 (Feb. 1).
In the Falcons' win over the Aggies, Air Force opened with a doubles victory, getting out to a 1-0 start over NMSU (1-3, 0-0 CUSA). Arianna Van Houweling and Shivaani Selvan were the first to get off their court with a 6-3 win against Aggie pair Montana Parkinson-Lubold/Dora Kurdi. Nadia Kojonroj/Yule Kang, competing together for the first time in 2026, captured a 7-6 win, taking down Nadia Nemeth/Anna Klimova, 7-4, in the tiebreak to clinch the 1-0 advantage. Senior Abby Cotuna/sophomore Sofia Mavor, facing Anna Piniaeva/Whitney Moon on court one, held a 4-3 advantage in the tiebreak game when Kojonroj/Kang captured the doubles win.
In singles, Cotuna, Kojonroj and Kang each picked up straight-set wins on their respective flights to clinch an Air Force team victory:
Kang struck first. The Falcon freshman who opened 2025-26 with six-straight wins and five in straight sets, shut out NMSU's Emma Petton in the first set. Kang closed out Petton 6-4 in the second to give Air Force a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Aggies notched a win on line six just before Kojonroj, on court four, picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win against Parkinson-Lubold. Her Aggie opponent closed out last season at 12-5.
Cotuna clinched the Falcons' first win of the season while scoring her first dual win in 2026, defeating Nemeth, 6-2, 6-3, on the top court. After returning to the Falcons ahead of the 2025-26 season, the seniors' victory in Flagstaff marks her first win in a dual match since her freshman year.
Versus NAU the following day, Van Houweling/Selvan bagged a 6-2 doubles win on the top flight but the Falcons went down in their other two matches. Van Houweling also secured the Falcons' lone singles victory of the day to cap a 3-0 weekend in her spring debut.
An Historic Turnaround:
The Falcons underwent their largest single-season turnaround in the program's history in 2025, closing the year ranked ninth in the final ITA Mountain Region rankings. In the second season of head coach Taylor Hollander's tenure, Air Force improved from a last-place finish in 2023-24 to going 12-14 and 4-6 against Mountain West opponents. The Falcons ended their season as the seven-seed in the 2025 Mountain West Championship, shutting out New Mexico in the opening round and scoring a 4-1 win over No. 69, two-seeded Nevada – A win representing Air Force's highest-seeded postseason victory since 2017.
A Rising Standard:
In the wake of Air Force's rapid ascent in 2025, head coach Taylor Hollander amassed one of the programs' best-ever collection of recruits. The Air Force Women's Tennis Class of 2029 ranked 10th overall on Tennis Recruiting Network's 2025 Top Mid-Major Women's Classes – The Falcons' highest-ever ranking on the platform. The No. 10 spot placet the Falcons in front of both fellow service academies, falling one spot ahead of Navy (11th) and 14 ahead of Army (24th). Air Force was the lone Mountain West program to crack the list in 2025.
In fall competition, Air Force freshmen (Jariahlyn Rhoades, Yule Kang, Alba Martinez) combined to finish 16-10 and 16-13 in open singles and doubles, respectively.
A Worthy Challenge of Aspiring Falcons:
Five matches against opponents who comprised the 64-team field of the 2025 NCAA DI Women's Tennis Championship headline a stacked spring schedule for the Falcons. Included in the gauntlet are one national runner-up (Texas A&M), three conference champions (Boise State, Denver, Grand Canyon) and six opponents who were named to the final ITA national rankings in 2025 (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, San Diego State, SMU, Boise State, Nevada).
Road Warriors:
The Falcons' meeting with Denver marks the sixth leg of a nine-match road swing to open the 2026 dual season. Following the DU match on Friday, Air Force is slated for a Feb. 14 meeting with Army in Orlando for College MatchDay, followed by a pair of duals against Oklahoma and Arkansas on Feb. 22 in Norman before opening at the Academy against North Florida on Feb. 27.
DU at a Glance:
Denver, the 11-time Summit League title holder, is currently 3-0 in dual action, most recently picking up a 4-2 win over Colorado on Feb. 1. To date, the Pioneers are a combined 15-2 in dual singles competition and 5-3 in doubles play.
Last Time Out:
Air Force split results on a two-match weekend in Flagstaff, picking up a 4-1 win over New Mexico State (Jan. 31) and falling to host Northern Arizona, 5-2 (Feb. 1).
In the Falcons' win over the Aggies, Air Force opened with a doubles victory, getting out to a 1-0 start over NMSU (1-3, 0-0 CUSA). Arianna Van Houweling and Shivaani Selvan were the first to get off their court with a 6-3 win against Aggie pair Montana Parkinson-Lubold/Dora Kurdi. Nadia Kojonroj/Yule Kang, competing together for the first time in 2026, captured a 7-6 win, taking down Nadia Nemeth/Anna Klimova, 7-4, in the tiebreak to clinch the 1-0 advantage. Senior Abby Cotuna/sophomore Sofia Mavor, facing Anna Piniaeva/Whitney Moon on court one, held a 4-3 advantage in the tiebreak game when Kojonroj/Kang captured the doubles win.
In singles, Cotuna, Kojonroj and Kang each picked up straight-set wins on their respective flights to clinch an Air Force team victory:
Kang struck first. The Falcon freshman who opened 2025-26 with six-straight wins and five in straight sets, shut out NMSU's Emma Petton in the first set. Kang closed out Petton 6-4 in the second to give Air Force a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Aggies notched a win on line six just before Kojonroj, on court four, picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win against Parkinson-Lubold. Her Aggie opponent closed out last season at 12-5.
Cotuna clinched the Falcons' first win of the season while scoring her first dual win in 2026, defeating Nemeth, 6-2, 6-3, on the top court. After returning to the Falcons ahead of the 2025-26 season, the seniors' victory in Flagstaff marks her first win in a dual match since her freshman year.
Versus NAU the following day, Van Houweling/Selvan bagged a 6-2 doubles win on the top flight but the Falcons went down in their other two matches. Van Houweling also secured the Falcons' lone singles victory of the day to cap a 3-0 weekend in her spring debut.
An Historic Turnaround:
The Falcons underwent their largest single-season turnaround in the program's history in 2025, closing the year ranked ninth in the final ITA Mountain Region rankings. In the second season of head coach Taylor Hollander's tenure, Air Force improved from a last-place finish in 2023-24 to going 12-14 and 4-6 against Mountain West opponents. The Falcons ended their season as the seven-seed in the 2025 Mountain West Championship, shutting out New Mexico in the opening round and scoring a 4-1 win over No. 69, two-seeded Nevada – A win representing Air Force's highest-seeded postseason victory since 2017.
A Rising Standard:
In the wake of Air Force's rapid ascent in 2025, head coach Taylor Hollander amassed one of the programs' best-ever collection of recruits. The Air Force Women's Tennis Class of 2029 ranked 10th overall on Tennis Recruiting Network's 2025 Top Mid-Major Women's Classes – The Falcons' highest-ever ranking on the platform. The No. 10 spot placet the Falcons in front of both fellow service academies, falling one spot ahead of Navy (11th) and 14 ahead of Army (24th). Air Force was the lone Mountain West program to crack the list in 2025.
In fall competition, Air Force freshmen (Jariahlyn Rhoades, Yule Kang, Alba Martinez) combined to finish 16-10 and 16-13 in open singles and doubles, respectively.
A Worthy Challenge of Aspiring Falcons:
Five matches against opponents who comprised the 64-team field of the 2025 NCAA DI Women's Tennis Championship headline a stacked spring schedule for the Falcons. Included in the gauntlet are one national runner-up (Texas A&M), three conference champions (Boise State, Denver, Grand Canyon) and six opponents who were named to the final ITA national rankings in 2025 (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, San Diego State, SMU, Boise State, Nevada).
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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