University of the Pacific’s women’s tennis team poured more than 130 hours of volunteer service into the campus and Stockton community over the past year, earning the team the Northwest Region Community Service Award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association—the only school to receive the recognition. 

Throughout the 2024-25 year, the program was involved in Special Olympics pickleball, Pacific campus move-in day, the annual university fundraiser Pacific Gives Back, Pacific Trick or Treat, Tennis Kids Day, the Pacific community garden and Tigers Prowlin' the Mile, a community block party.

At the Special Olympics pickleball, the team participated in drills and competition with Stockton special Olympics adult players. At Tennis Kids Day, the Tigers played with local special needs children and taught tennis skills including groundstrokes, volleys and serves.

"I am so proud our team is invested in our community and university. With each event we participated in, the ladies came with a smile and were happy to give back to our community," said Head Coach Mary Beth Gunn.

To be considered for the award, teams must complete at least 50 hours of community service; Pacific accumulated more than 2.5 times that amount. The award was voted on by all head coaches in the Northwest region.

"I told our team at the beginning of the year that being involved in the community is something special and is important work, something bigger than tennis matches. It really helped our team keep perspective, focus and value putting others above ourselves," Gunn said.

The women’s tennis program graduated four student-athletes this past semester. It included Megan Carmichael ’25 in psychology, Zara Fung ’25 in political science, Elizaveta Mladensteva ’25 in computer science and Alexis Sam ’25 in health and exercise science.

Carmichael was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic First-Team, while Milena Maiorova ’27, who is pursuing a media production degree, earned Honorable Mention. Maiorova is returning for the 2025-26 season.

“One of our goals as a team was to give back to the community, especially through non-tennis pathways, and this was a great accomplishment for us. We take great enjoyment in making other people happy,” said Maiorova, from Kazan, Russia. “It’s really rewarding to help others while not expecting anything back. It feels good to support the community.”

A memorable moment for the Tigers was working at the Pacific community garden. The team helped plant several fruits, including tomatoes, and cleaned the area.

“Planting to me is like giving new life. It’s a very enjoyable activity for the team, and it felt like we were building something and making a difference here within the Pacific community,” Maiorova said. “The team would like to win this same award again next year. We’re always looking forward to helping others.”

Learn more about the award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.