WILMINGTON, Del. (October 18, 2026) – The second-seeded Thomas Jefferson University women's tennis team captured the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship on Sunday afternoon, defeating top-seeded Queens College, 4-3, in a down-to-the-wire thriller at the Delcastle Tennis Center.
Jefferson first had to get through a game Wilmington University team in the 2-3 matchup on Saturday afternoon. The Rams ultimately won, 4-1, setting the stage for Sunday's championship performance. In beating Queens, the Rams secured a 2-1 edge in the season series with the Knights and emerged with the CACC crown for the first time with two-time CACC Coach of the Year Fred Perrin (2025, 2026), and for the second time ever. Jefferson's first CACC Women's Tennis Championship came in 2008 during the Philadelphia Univeristy era, and the 2026 championship will also go down as the first for the Jefferson Athletic Department in the 2026-27 season.
The Rams secured the doubles point before earning three singles victories. Junior Kalomoira Ralli (Athens, Greece / Grand Valley State) delivered the heroics at fourth singles and keyed a strong start in doubles play alongside sophomore Madina Omarova (Astana, Kazakhstan / Flagman Physics-Technical School). The duo earned a 6-3 victory at third doubles, and helped secure the first point of the match (and one that would ultimately prove decisive). Crucially, sophomores Isabella Lazzerini (Milan, Italy / Southern Arkansas University) and Sophia Babar (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Country Day School) also prevailed in a tightly contested second doubles match, 7-6 (10-8) to give Jefferson the edge heading into singles play.
It was here that junior Alycia Veroux (Ehlange-Sur-Mess, Luxembourg / CNED) delivered Jefferson's first singles victory of the afternoon, earning a 6-4, 6-4 decision at second singles. Sophomore Anouk Oderkerk (Stenungsund, Sweden / Nösnäsgymnaseit), the 2026 CACC Player of the Year and 2026 ITA Divsiion II East Regional Champion, had a tough draw against top East Region rival Sixtine Goubet, this time falling to Queens' top singles player in three sets. However, Jefferson's depth proved to be the story of the match as the middle of the lineup helped cover the Rams' top singles player, who entered Sunday reasonably fatigued after 10 matches in seven days.
Lazzerini followed with an impressive performance at fifth singles, cruising to a 6-0 opening-set victory before prevailing in a second-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-4), to give Jefferson its second singles point with one more needed to secure championship glory.
With the match knotted at 3-3, the title came down to Ralli at fourth singles who found herself in a three-set duel. After dominating the opening set, the junior overcame second-set adversity to win the third set, 7-5, setting off a much-deserved championship celebration for the Rams.
Next for the Rams -- the inaugural NCAA Division II women's singles tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Oderkerk qualified for the tournament with her region-winning performance in Queens last weekend, and will have her chance to compete on the national stage for the first time this November.
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