Garrido-Rivas Joins Tennis Team
6/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU women's tennis head coach Lee Taylor Walker announced the newest addition to the program with the signing of USF transfer Olaya Garrido-Rivas to the 2015-16 roster on Tuesday afternoon.
"Olaya competes with a real flare and fight," Walker said. "I've been on the losing end against her the last two seasons a total of three different times. It will be nice to not have to experience that again. I've always admired her intensity on court and the passion she plays with. We are very fortunate to have her join an already deep team. Her attitude and personality will really give us a nice balance and help create a wonderful team chemistry."
Garrido-Rivas, a 5-foot-6 native of Gijon, Asturias, Spain, signed a Grant-in-Aid to join the Horned Frogs for her final two years of eligibility after spending the first two seasons of her collegiate career at USF.
"I chose TCU because it is a really good university both academically and athletically," Garrido-Rivas said. "When I went to visit I really liked the campus, the people and the Fort Worth area. The women's tennis program has a great structure and I love the expectations the coaches have laid out for me. Lee and Ben (Stapp) are building a great program and I am excited to be a part of it."
In two seasons as USF, Garrido-Rivas complied an overall singles record of 38-25 and an overall doubles record of 28-26. In singles play, Garrido-Rivas was able to defeat four ranked opponents during her freshman and sophomore seasons. Garrido-Rivas advanced to the quarterfinals of the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invite in singles and doubles during the 2014-15 campaign and competed at the No. 1 spot in singles all season long.
In her freshman campaign, Garrido-Rivas started the season strong in the No. 3 spot and posted an overall singles record of 27-10 and an overall doubles record of 20-12. Garrido-Rivas turned it on at the end of the year, finishing with a 9-1 record in her last 10 matches and helped secure a point against No. 1 seed Houston to help the team win the American Athletic Conference Title. With her impressive play, Garrido-Rivas was named to the American Athletic All-Conference team and earned a spot on the ITA All-Academic Team.
"This concludes our 2015 recruiting class and gives us one of the strongest in the country," Walker said. "Marie (Norris), Mia (King), and Olaya will all make an immediate impact moving the program in a positive direction. We are very grateful for all three of them and look forward to having them here soon."
