Linnikova Earns Record Sixth PBC Player of the Week Selection
DAHLONEGA -- No. 4 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's tennis senior Angelina Linnikova has been named the Peach Belt Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week for a record sixth time this season. The league office announced the weekly awards Monday afternoon.
Linnikova now joins Armstrong State's Iuliia Stupak as the only players in PBC history to win the Player of the Week award six times in one season. Stupak did it in 2008, making Linnikova the first player to accomplish the feat in 17 years.
Linnikova, ranked as the No. 5 women's singles player in the country per the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), secured two more victories over ranked opponents last week to help the Nighthawks to a pair of ranked wins themselves.
On Tuesday, she defeated Columbus State's Nikoline Gullacksen 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. Gullacksen entered the match ranked as the No. 8 women's singles player in the country. Linnikova's victory helped UNG overcome a 2-0 deficit in the overall match to pull out a critical 4-3 victory.
A few days later, Linnikova led the Nighthawks to a neutral-site win over No. 22 Mississippi College when she defeated ITA No. 16 Emma Roberts 7-6 (7-2 tiebreaker), 6-1 in the #1 singles match. The win marked history for Linnikova and the Nighthawks as she became the program's all-time leader in career singles wins with 56 victories over the last three seasons.
Linnikova has a staggering 56-6 record in singles play in three seasons with the Nighthawks. She is 40-4 in the last two seasons and 27-2 since April 2, 2024. Her perfect record in 2025 makes her the only undefeated player in the top 10 of the ITA rankings this spring. She is now 23-2 since the fall portion of the season.
Linnikova is also 8-0 against nationally ranked opponents in the spring after her dispatching of Roberts on Thursday. She now has wins over the No. 1, No. 2 (twice), No. 8, No. 16 and No. 25 women's singles players in the country.
With a win over Georgia Southwestern's Monique Gundrum on Monday, Linnikova completed a perfect regular season with a 19-0 record in singles play.
Linnikova and the Nighthawks will now get ready for the 2025 PBC Tournament which begins Friday, April 25 in Columbus, Ga.
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