Abby Kvachkoff, senior women’s tennis player, finished off her fall semester with her third straight victory in singles, winning with scores of 6-2, 1-6 and 10-4 for her three-set against Wayne State’s Astrif Ciellza.

“I play tennis because I truly enjoy the strategy of the game,” Kvachkoff said. “I also love spending time with my teammates. They make the experience memorable.”

Lucian Tabic, head coach for the men and women’s tennis teams, said Kvachkoff has a calm confidence about herself that the freshmen also benefit from.

“Abby is tough, resilient and intelligent. She is one of the smartest tennis players that I have ever coached,” Tabic said.

Kvachkoff has been working with Tabic for a year.

“I am very proud with the way my team and I have been playing this season,” Kvachkoff said. “We are competing against very talented teams in this new conference, and I believe we are doing a good job of not giving up and giving full effort.”

Kvachkoff was the first to win a Division II match.

“Division II has obviously been a challenge, but I believe it is experience that is beneficial for all of Purdue Northwest athletics in order to keep growing in the future. It is definitely different from last season, but I am happy to have been apart of the GLIAC conference for my last season,” Kvachkoff said.

Kvachkoff first became involved in the sport when one of the tennis coaches at Crown Point High School asked her if she wanted to try out for the tennis team because she was athletic. She went on to become an all-conference player all four years of high school.

“I thought it was a new and fun opportunity, so luckily, I went for it,” Kvachkoff said.

In 2015, Kvachkoff played a total of ten matches and won a total of three matches in her singles competition. She also won three doubles competition with partner Anna Wachowski.

Kvachkoff was the 2014 Northwest Indiana Times Athlete of the Year. That year, she played a total of five matches. She won three matches in her singles competition and three matches in her doubles competition.

The PNW women’s tennis team will be returning to the court on Feb. 16 against Chicago State University for the spring semester.

In Kvachkoff’s free time, she enjoys playing basketball and volleyball. Kvachkoff plans to become a nurse after she graduates from PNW, but she is still unsure what kind of nurse she would like to be.