The 2023-24 season marks the second year for Yulia Kapitanova as the graduate assistant for Southeast Missouri women's tennis.
Kapitanova helped coach the Redhawks to their second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament. She helped lead the Redhawks to another Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2023. For the first time in program history, the Redhawks won the regular season title and the OVC title under her watch.
She coached the Redhawks to an overall record of 17-3 which tied for the most wins in program history and went undeafted in league play going 5-0, while ending the regular season on a 14 match win streak, the most in program history.
In 2023 Kapitanova helped the Redhawks achieve five All-OVC selections, the most in program history. Daniela Hlacikova won player of the year and was named to All-OVC first team, her third of her career. Romana Tarajova was named to her fourth career All-OVC First Team. Ksenia Shikanova landed a spot on the OVC First-Team for the first time in her career. Vivian Lai and Teona Velkoska garnered Second-Team All-OVC laurels, the first all-conference awards for Lai and first singles honors for Velkoska. The Redhawks No. 1 pair of Tarajova and Shikanova were named to All-OVC doubles team.
Kapitanova most recently spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant tennis coach at Bowling Green. In her first season, the Falcons saw multiple Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors. Selina Karg earned MAC Singles Player of the Week on March 23, then shared MAC Doubles Team of the Week honors with Hannah Neuman on April 6. Additionally, Ioanna Tsadari claimed the Singles Title at the Pam Whitehead Invitational on Sept. 18.
A two-year letter winner for the Falcons, Kapitanova won 38 total matches in her BGSU career. Twenty-three of those victories came in singles play, with an additional 15 in doubles. She began the 2019-20 campaign with a runner-up finish in the Singles Orange Bracket at the BGSU Invitational, then won the Singles Basham Bracket at the Purdue Invite. She continued her success in the spring, winning her season-opening singles match at Notre Dame before closing the COVID-19-shortened season with another singles win against Indiana Tech.
In 2020-21, Kapitanova earned nine singles wins, including a perfect record when playing at No. 2 and No. 5. In doubles, she saw six victories, including five with Marharita-Sophia Tavpash at No.1.
The Moscow, Russia, native, spent the first two years of her collegiate career at Hampton, playing No. 1 singles in all 17 matches as a sophomore. As a freshman, Kapitanova finished 3-0 in No. 1 singles and 5-2 in No. 2 singles. She played all 11 doubles matches at No. 1, finishing 8-3.
Kapitanova, a 2021 Academic All-MAC selection, earned her Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from BGSU in 2021.
