UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Big Ten announced its all-conference honorees on Wednesday morning. Olivia Dorner earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors while Patricia Grigoras was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Maria Daciana Ciubotaru was Penn State’s Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Dorner played at the top court for singles, finishing with an 8-7 (2-4 B1G) record this spring. The junior picked up a massive, ranked victory over No. 46 Grace Piper, 6-4, 6-4, as the team would defeat No. 14 USC for its highest-ranked win in at least 20 years.
On the doubles side, the duo of Dorner and Maiko Uchijima proved to be one of the top duos in the Big Ten, finishing with a 12-7 (6-5 B1G) dual record. During the fall, they won the ITA Northeast Regional doubles final and earned a bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Dorner earned Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors for this achievement and a top 16 finish in the singles competition.
The pair won three matches against ranked opponents during the 2024-25 campaign. Dorner and Uchijima took down Duke’s No. 61 Shavit Kimchi and Ellie Coleman, 6-3, at the UNC Kitty Harrison Invitational. At ITA All-Americans, they bested Arkansas’ No. 51 Grace O'Donnell and Anet Koskel, 6-1, 7-5. During the spring, Dorner and Uchijima defeated Purdue’s No. 86 Carmen Guevara and Tara Milic, 6-3 for their third ranked victory of the season.
Grigoras put the conference on notice during her freshman season, playing mainly on court three for singles. She ended the regular season with a 13-7 (5-5 B1G) singles dual record and a 9-9 (3-8 B1G) doubles dual record. She paired with Jordina Cegarra in doubles, finishing the season as the court one duo.
Grigoras earned Big Ten Freshman of the week honors on April 2 for her efforts in Penn State’s win over No. 14 USC and match against No. 24 UCLA. At the USC match, Grigoras and Cegarra to clinch the doubles point against Jana Hossam and Sloane Morra, 7-5. In singles action, she defeated Lily Fairclough, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Two days later against UCLA, she nearly earned the first ranked win of her career against No. 38 Kate Fakih. The match went unfinished with Grigoras leading 6-4, 5-3.
Ciubotaru joined the Nittany Lions for the spring season and made an immediate impact both on and off the court. She quickly cemented a role in the lineup despite missing the fall semester.
In her second career match against Old Dominion, she played a key role in the Penn State victory with a 7-6, 6-3 triumph over Allison Isaacs on court three. A few minutes later, Yvonne Zuffova would clinch the match for the Nittany Lions.
She would go on to clinch victories against Princeton and No. 14 USC. Against the Trojans, she rallied from dropping the first set to defeat Maia Sung, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and secure one of the best wins in program history.
12-seed Penn State begins Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament play today against No. 5 seed Wisconsin at 3 p.m. at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club at Libbey Park in Ojai, California.
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