A historic run came to a close on Monday in California as the New York University women's tennis program's record holder for career wins, Jimena Menendez, fell in the semifinals of the 2025 NCAA Division III Singles Championship.
The tournament was held at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on the campus of Claremont-Mudd Scripps Colleges, in Claremont, CA.
Menendez earned her place in the semifinal after dispatching four- seed Sahana Raman of Middlebury in the first round, MIT's Fiona Lee in the second round and Jay Xiao of Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinal. Five-seed Jacqueline Soloveychik of Wesleyan awaited Menendez in the semifinal. Soloveychik outlasted Menendez, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, in a three-set battle.
She ends her NYU career as the program's record holder for career wins, finishing with a 63-17 record as a Violet.
"All the tennis over the last few days finally caught up to Jimena," said Head Coach Horace Choy. "Jimena was a little sluggish to start and rallied in the second set. I thought she had another comeback in her but she had a drop in energy and her movement. She still had a great tournament and went further than any woman ever has and she should be proud of herself," said Choy.
After dropping the first set in straight games, Menendez found her rhythm early in set two and took three of the first four games. Soloveychik climbed back into the set, drawing level at five games each. Menendez dug deep to win the final two games of the second set and force a third with a 7-5 win in the middle frame.
The two athletes split the opening four games of the final set before Soloveychik won two straight to take a 4-2 lead in the decisive third set. The national seed maintained control of the final set, winning the final two games of the match to advance to the National Championship.
"I am so proud and privileged to have coached Jimena these past four years," said Choy. "She represented the team, the department, and the university so well. When your best player is also the most dedicated, hardest working, and selfless, it makes things easy."
Menendez's run remains the deepest by a Violet tennis player in the Singles Championship tournament in program history.
"When she got to NYU, she was a good player but not a finished product," Choy added. "She worked hard and raised her level to where it has been the last two years. She has been one of the best players in the country during that period and I'm happy that others recognize that. I will miss coaching her and am happy that this tournament extended our time together. I have no doubt that she will be successful in whatever she does."
The 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Singles Championship will be held on Tuesday, May 27 at 1:00 PM Eastern/10:00 AM Pacific. Soloveychik will face Lindsay Eisenman of Claremont-Mudd Scripps in the final.
