TEMPE, ARIZ -- The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced its regional award winners. Flagler's Rod Puebla was named the Southeast Region Coach of the Year while Columbus State's Nikoline Gullacksen was named the Most Improved Player and North Georgia's Angelina Linnikova the Senior Player of the Year.

Puebla is the first coach since Walter Shinn (2014) to be selected ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year. With the season currently still in progress, Puebla has led the Saints to a 21-5 record. For the the season, the Saints have 11 wins against nationally-ranked opponents. The team had a season-high seven match win streak. Their biggest ranked wins of the year came against No. 4 Lynn Universtiy (4-0) and No. 4 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (4-2). Other notable wins came against previously undefeated and No. 6-ranked Catawba College (4-1), No. 7 University of Nebraska at Kearney (6-1), No. 8 Wingate University (4-2), and No. 9 University of North Georgia (4-3).

A junior from Helsingor, Denmark, Gullacksen was a 2025 PBC first-team All-Conference selection in singles and doubles. She went 10-6 overall in dual matches this spring, playing every singles match and all but one doubles match in the #1 spot. She was 3-2 against conference opponents and ranked #10 in the nation in singles by the ITA.

The 2025 PBC Player of the Year, Linnikova is currently ranked as the ITA women's singles No. 2 player in the country. Her perfect record of 23-0 in 2025 makes her the only undefeated player in the top 10 of the ITA rankings this spring. She has a staggering 61-6 record in singles play in three seasons with the Nighthawks. She is 44-4 in the last two seasons and 31-2 since April 2, 2024. Linnikova is also 10-0 against nationally ranked opponents in the spring. She has tallied wins over the No. 1, No. 2 (twice), No. 8, No. 16 (three times) and No. 25 women's singles players in the country.

She will take the court again on Wednesday, May 21 when the Nighthawks face 13-seeded and No. 36 Queens (N.Y.) in the opening match of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship. The match takes place at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Southeast Award Winners

Award	Winner	School
ITA Coach of the Year	Rod Puebla	Flagler College
ITA Rookie of the Year	Elona Simonov	Belmont Abbey College
ITA Most Improved Player	Nikoline Gullacksen	Columbus State University
ITA Senior Player of the Year	Angelina Linnikova	University of North Georgia
ITA Player to Watch	Ami Miya	Catawba College