SMU freshman Amelie Van Impe earned ACC Freshman of the Year after a breakout season that included elite singles and doubles results.
Amelie Van Impe has already made SMU women’s tennis history in the Mustangs’ new conference home.
The SMU freshman was named ACC Freshman of the Year on Thursday, giving the program its first postseason conference honor since joining the ACC in 2024. Van Impe also landed on the All-ACC Singles First Team, while she and junior Caroline McGinley earned All-ACC Doubles Second Team recognition after a strong spring together.
For SMU, this is a major milestone. Van Impe is just the third player in program history to win a conference Freshman of the Year award and the first since Hatamoza Shahzoda did it in Conference USA in 2010.
The numbers explain why Van Impe quickly became one of the ACC’s top young stars. The Belgium native climbed to No. 21 in the ITA singles rankings, the highest spot for a SMU women’s tennis player since 2011.
She enters NCAA Championship play with a 13-3 overall singles record and a seven-match winning streak.
Van Impe was especially impressive against ACC competition, going 7-2 in league matches. Her biggest win came against North Carolina’s Reese Brantmeier, who was ranked No. 1 nationally at the time and later named ACC Player of the Year.
Van Impe has five ranked singles wins this spring, adding real weight to her postseason resume.
Her doubles partnership with McGinley has been just as important for No. 25 SMU. The duo went 15-2 in dual match play, opened the spring 11-0 and rose as high as No. 10 in the ITA doubles rankings.
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They also collected five ranked doubles victories, including a win over Virginia’s then-No. 3 Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang.
SMU will find out its NCAA Tournament path Monday, April 27, when the 2026 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Selection Show streams on NCAA.com at 3:30 p.m. CT.
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