NEW ORLEANS – App State’s Savannah Dada-Mascoll and Arkansas State’s Sarah Millard were recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in its Division I Women’s National Award Winners on Tuesday.
Dada-Mascoll was named the ITA Most Improved Player as Millard received the ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award.
The ITA Most Improved Player award recognizes the student-athlete who has shown the greatest improvement throughout her career while making significant contributions to her team through leadership, sportsmanship and performance.
Dada-Mascoll's selection reflects one of the most remarkable career trajectories in program history. After beginning her collegiate career unranked, she rose to as high as No. 5 in the nation entering the 2026 spring season and finished the spring with 103 career singles wins. She began her collegiate career making an immediate impact as a freshman, earning All-Sun Belt First-Team honors in singles while posting a team-best 15-4 record in the spring season.
Dada-Mascoll followed with a historic sophomore campaign, finishing 21-2 that spring and recording a 16-match winning streak, which stood as the longest in program history at the time. She earned First-Team all-conference honors for the second consecutive season and helped lead the Mountaineers to their first Sun Belt Championship finals appearance, highlighted by a victory over ranked Old Dominion player Sofia Johnson at the No. 1 position.
Dada-Mascoll's junior season featured success in both the fall and spring. Alongside Isabela Romanichen, Dada-Mascoll captured the ITA Conference Masters Championship to secure the first NCAA doubles berth in program history. She carried that momentum into the spring, posting a 19-2 singles record while earning First-Team All-Sun Belt honors for a third straight season and Second-Team doubles recognition with Taya Powell.
Dada-Mascoll reached unprecedented heights during her senior season. She opened the fall at the ITA All-American Championships, defeating five ranked opponents, including then-No. 1 DJ Bennett of Auburn, to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship. She followed that performance by claiming a share of the ITA Regional Championship, defeating three more ranked opponents along the way. At the NCAA Singles Championship, Dada-Mascoll became the first All-American in program history while advancing to the quarterfinals.
She continued her dominant play in the spring, suffering her only loss of the season in App State's opener at North Carolina before winning 23 consecutive matches to finish the year with a 36-3 record, counting the fall. The 23-match winning streak broke her own program record. Her performance earned Sun Belt Player of the Year honors, a fourth consecutive First-Team All-Sun Belt selection in singles and Second-Team doubles recognition alongside Ruby Broadbent.
The Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award recognizes a Division I women’s student-athlete who displays inspiring dedication and commitment to her team, which has enhanced her team’s performance and exemplified the spirit of college tennis. The award dates back to 1997 and is in memory of the late and widely admired Penn women’s tennis coach Cissie Leary.
An Arkansas State University graduate of Spring 2026, Millard earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology. This fall, she begins her pursuit for a Doctorate of Occupational Therapy while transitioning to a graduate assistant coach with A-State tennis.
A four-year letterwinner for the Red Wolves, Millard helped lead Arkansas State to its first postseason appearance in program history and the UTR NIT Championship. A recipient of the Sun Belt Conference Postgraduate Scholarship, Millard closed out her senior season with a 15-7 head-to-head singles record and a 15-14 record in doubles. Over her career, she totaled 41 victories in singles and 48 in doubles. Across her four seasons, she played a key role in elevating the program’s success, helping Arkansas State increase its win total from two in 2023 to 16 in 2026 – the program’s highest single-season total since 2002.
Millard is the first Arkansas State women’s tennis player to earn the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award and the first to do so from the Sun Belt Conference. She is just the sixth player from a non-autonomy school to earn the honor in its 30-year history, and the first since Western Carolina’s Jordan Strickland in 2020. She was named the ITA Central Region recipient of the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award and the Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award.
ITA Division I Women's National Award Winners:
ITA/Dunlop Coach of the Year: Mark Weaver (Texas A&M)
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year: David Secker (NC State)
ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award: Reese Brantmeier (North Carolina)
ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award: Sarah Millard (Arkansas State)
ITA Most Improved Player: Savannah Dada-Mascoll (Appalachian State)
ITA Player to Watch: Lucciana Perez (Texas A&M)
ITA Rookie of the Year: Victoria Osuigwe (NC State)
ITA Senior Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier (North Carolina)