Columbia News

The University of Missouri has announced the addition of Alex Ackman to its women's tennis team for the 2025 season. Head coach Bianca Turati confirmed Ackman's signing, highlighting her as a five-star recruit according to Tennis Recruiting Network. Ackman has also recorded two wins against blue-chip recruits.

Ackman attended Florida Virtual School for her high school education and is ranked 59th nationally and 11th in Florida by Babolat Recruiting Lists. She holds a 22-16 record this year. Her singles Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) stands at 9.26. Recently, she competed at the UTR Pro Boca Raton event and achieved a win over Jessica Kovalcik.

In tournament play, Ackman reached the round of 32 at the UTSA Winter National Championships in Orlando at the start of the year and advanced to the quarterfinals at the USTA National Level 3 Tournament in September 2024. During that event, she won a match after a second set tiebreaker and secured seven shutout victories with scores of 6-0, 6-0 in 2024.

Coach Turati expressed optimism about Ackman's future with the team: "Silvia and I are thrilled to add Alex Ackman to our team in fall 2025," said Turati. "Alex has had some impressive results in the past three months and showed she can play at a very high level. She is a true competitor. She is gritty and plays every point of the match, which is a quality needed in the SEC. Her game style is very physical, and she is an incredible mover from the baseline with great court coverage. I cannot wait to have her here at Mizzou soon as a Tiger and start working with her. I am confident Alex is going to help this program climb the rankings and achieve our goals. Welcome to the family, Alex".

Ackman also competed alongside Summer Chandler in April 2024 at the J100 Delray Beach Tournament, where they reached the semifinals after winning two matches in straight sets before losing in a tiebreaker.

One highlight from Ackman's career includes winning the title at the 2022 USTA National Level 2 Tournament in Coral Gables, Florida, where she defeated Alanis Hamilton after four rounds of competition with a third-set breaker score of 10-8.

Discussing her decision to join Missouri, Ackman cited both "nice coaches and pretty campus" as important factors.