Akli Named ITA Singles All-American

Columbia, S.C. – ­The Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation (ITA) has announced South Carolina women’s tennis graduate Ayana Akli as a singles All-American for the 2023-24 season. The honor marks the third time in Akli’s career that she has received an All-America honor and second consecutive year that she claimed the accolade in singles.

This season, Akli earned the title before the NCAA Singles Touranment began by entering the draw as a No. 9-16 seed. In the tournament, she claimed a dominant 6-0, 6-1 victory in her first round match over No. 36 Casie Wooten of Wake Forest before bowing out in the second round.

The Silver Spring, Md., native posted a 28-11 overall singles record this season with 15 of her wins over ranked opponents. Akli went 14-5 in tournament play this season and ended the fall as the runner-up at the ITA Fall National Championships. In dual play she went 14-6 with an 11-6 mark from the top of the lineup.

Akli finished the 2023-24 season ranked No. 12 in the nation and spent the entirety of the season ranked inside the top-15, peaking at No. 3.

Across her five year career, she has tallied more than 120 singles wins and was a four-time NCAA Singles Touranment qualifier. She wrapped collegiate play as a two-time singles All-American and doubles All-American as well as being the program’s first ever SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earning South Carolina’s highest student-athlete honor as a recipient of the President’s Award.

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