Northeastern State, 2007 - Fifth Year
The 2017 season is the fifth for Amanda Stone at the helm of the Northeastern State women’s tennis program. She was hired in January 2013, and she owns an 86-20 career record at NSU.
The two-time MIAA Coach of the Year has returned the RiverHawks back to national prominence, as the team has shot up the rankings in all four seasons since she took over the head coaching duties. She has posted at least 20 wins in each of her four years, which includes four straight trips to the NCAA Championship Round of 16. She has also led NSU to three-consecutive MIAA Regular Season Championships (2014-16).
Stone has boasted two ITA All-Americans, one ITA Central Region Senior Player of the Year, one ITA Central Region Player to Watch, one MIAA Player of the Year, and two MIAA Freshmen of the Year. Of the 15 players who have gone through the program since Stone took over in 2013, 14 have earned All-MIAA honors at least once. Those 14 student-athletes have amassed 38 all-conference accolades. NSU has also accumulated an MIAA-high 16 player of the week honors over the past four years
She took over the reins of a program that was unranked in 2013, and she has catapulted NSU to the nation's No. 10-ranked squad at the end of the 2016 campaign. The placement was the first top-10 ranking in school history.
The RiverHawks are also one of the nation's top academic programs. Over the last four years, NSU has touted one CoSIDA Academic All-American, four CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees, eight ITA Scholar-Athletes, one MIAA Academic Excellence award winner, 10 MIAA Scholar-Athletes and 13 members of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.
The 2016 contingent went 20-4 overall with a 10-0 mark against MIAA opponents for the second-straight year. Northeastern State won the MIAA Regular Season Championship for the third year in a row and hosted the 2016 NCAA Central Region 1 Championship. The RiverHawks won the regional and advanced to the NCAA Championship Round of 16 for the fourth-straight year. They ended the year ranked No. 10 in the nation, which is the first time in school history that NSU has earned a top-10 placement. All six members of the team earned All-MIAA honors, and Patricia Husakova was selected as the MIAA Player of the Year. She was also named an ITA All-American and was chosen as the ITA Central Region Senior Player of the Year. Husakova and doubles partner Molly Worden ended the season No. 15 in the nation.
The 2015 team posted a 20-6 mark, which included a perfect 10-0 record in the MIAA. NSU claimed its second-straight MIAA title and served as hosts for the 2015 NCAA Central Region 2 Championship. The RiverHawks went on to win the regional and advance to the NCAA Championship Round of 16 for the third-straight year. Northeastern State ended the season ranked No. 18 in the nation and all eight members of the team earned All-MIAA honors. Both Kristina Savchenkov (No. 14) and Patricia Husakova (No. 39) earned national ITA singles rankings during the season, and they also teamed up to comprise the nation’s No. 10-ranked doubles tandem.
The 2014 squad went 23-6 and captured the first conference championship for any NSU sport since the university joined the MIAA. Northeastern State ended Southwest Baptist’s stranglehold on the MIAA by snapping the Bearcats’ 32-match win streak against league opponents. The RiverHawks also won a pair of matches in the NCAA tournament to advance to the Round of 16. The team finished the year ranked No. 20 in the nation after toppling six ranked opponents. Kristina Savchenkov ascended to No. 17 in the nation in singles and was honored as an ITA All-American. NSU boasted seven individuals who picked up All-MIAA honors, which included three first teamers. Valeriia Efimenko also garned MIAA Freshman of the Year accolades.
In her first campaign, she turned what was a 10-9 program the year before back into one of the premier programs in the nation. The 2013 season saw NSU finish at 23-4 overall and advance to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since 2007. The 23 wins were the most since 2006, and the RiverHawks also finished runner-up in their first year in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association with a 9-1 record. Northeastern State defeated four ranked teams in 2013 and went from unranked at the beginning of the campaign to No. 27 in the nation by years’ end. Stone led the doubles team of Ivana Belejova and Savchenkov to a national ITA rank of No. 19, and Savchenkov earned a national singles ranking of No. 49. She was honored as the 2013 MIAA Freshman of the Year. The team had seven All-MIAA performers, including four members of the first team.
Stone returned to Tahlequah after spending two years at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), where she served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s tennis programs. Her responsibilities with the YellowJackets included organizing, scheduling and planning daily practices, budget management, recruiting, marketing, and player development.
She graduated cum laude from NSU in 2007 with a Bachelor of Art degree in mass communications and a minor in studio art. She is currently working towards a Master of Science degree in marketing at Rochester.
Stone attended Northeastern State from 2004-07, where she served as one half of the top doubles tandem and played anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5 singles. She made two national tournament appearances, attained a No. 11 national doubles ranking in 2007 and posted an undefeated singles mark her senior year.
Her first collegiate stop was at Oral Roberts, where she played basketball during her freshman campaign. She played in 22 games and made six starts in her lone season as a member of the Golden Eagles, helping lead the squad to an 18-10 record.
Stone worked at Garmin International as a consumer technical writer prior to attending graduate school (2008-11). She has also served as an assistant tennis pro at Indian Springs Country Club in Tulsa (2007) and as an assistant coach for Girls on the Run (2010-11).
Stone’s Year-By-Year Record as a collegiate head coach
Year School W-L Postseason
2016 Northeastern State 20-4 NCAA Round of 16
2015 Northeastern State 20-6 NCAA Round of 16
2014 Northeastern State 23-6 NCAA Round of 16
2013 Northeastern State 23-4 NCAA Round of 16
STONE BY THE NUMBERS
38 All-MIAA Awards
16 MIAA Players of the Week
13 MIAA Academic Honor Roll honorees
10 MIAA Scholar-Athletes
8 ITA Scholar-Athletes
4 nationally-ranked doubles teams
4 CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 First Team members
4 NCAA Championship Round of 16 appearances
3 MIAA Regular Season Championships
3 nationally-ranked singles player
2 ITA All-Americans
2 MIAA Coach of the Year Awards
2 MIAA Freshmen of the Year
2 ITA All-Academic Team Awards
1 ITA Central Region Senior Player of the Year
1 ITA Central Region Player to Watch
1 MIAA Player of the Year
1 MIAA Academic Excellence award winner
1 CoSIDA Academic All-America® member
