TEMPE, Ariz. – Slippery Rock University women's tennis standout Dari Sakhanova has been honored with the Arthur Ashe, Jr. National Leadership and Sportsmanship Award presented by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
 
The prestigious award is presented annually to just one male and one female tennis student-athlete from each level of collegiate competition. The award, which dates back to 1982, is presented to the men's and women's national student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements.
 
Sakhanova became the fifth Slippery Rock women's tennis player to earn the award at the Atlantic Region level earlier in the postseason and now becomes the second Rock student-athlete to earn the Division II national award. She joins Lauren Coggins (2014) as national recipients of the honor from Slippery Rock.
 
A senior leader for The Rock, Sakhanova is the definition of a student-athlete on and off the court.
 
Athletically, Sakhanova is a former All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division honoree and the 2023 PSAC West Freshman of the Year who ranks sixth in program history for wins in a career (140). This season, Sakhanova compiled a 16-7 singles record while competing primarily out of the fifth flight in addition to joining forces with Nadia Rodewald and forming a doubles pairing that went 23-3.
 
Academically, Sakhanova is a three-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team honoree who recently graduated from SRU with a 3.96 GPA as a sport management major. Sakhanova was named to the Dean's List seven times during her Slippery Rock career.
 
Away from the court and the classroom Sakhanova is the Vice President of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) at SRU and is a member of the Sport Management Alliance Club, the International Club and Rock Career Champions.
 
Additionally, Sakhanova has also served as peer academic coach at SRU, providing individual and small group academic coaching to students on topics of academic motivation, goal setting, time management, studying skills and habits.
 
Sakhanova helped to lead Slippery Rock to a 16-4 team record and to No. 28 on the ITA Top 50 poll in 2026. SRU won the PSAC Tournament and earned to the top seed in the Atlantic Region for the NCAA Tournament. SRU defeated Fairmont State University, 4-0, in the second round to advance to the Round of 16 for a second consecutive year.





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