Canyons Freshman Emma Chodur Places Fifth at ITA Cup

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

ROME, Georgia — College of the Canyons freshman Emma Chodur has enjoyed a spectacular start to her freshman campaign after placing fifth in the nation at the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup hosted by Berry College at the Rome Tennis Center.

The ITA Cup is the nation's only singles and doubles championship event for NCAA Div. II & III, NAIA and JUCO levels. Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the lead up to this year's event included more than 8,000 players across the nation competing in 60 regional tournaments to qualify as an ITA Cup participant.

Among those participants was Chodur, who qualified by winning the ITA's California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) Southern California Region Women's Singles Championship played Sept. 26-28, and hosted by Fullerton College.

Chodur, who resides in Castaic, then moved on to the ITA Cup held Oct. 16-19, where she finished with a 2-1 tourney record to place fifth in the nation.

Her run at the ITA Cup began on Friday with an opening round loss (1-6, 0-6) vs. Sydney Stark of Hillsborough Community College, located in Tampa, FL.

Down but not out, Chodur bounced back to defeat Jaedyn Martin of Wallace State Community College from Hanceville, AL in a three-set thriller (6-3, 3-6, 6-2) the following day.

That victory placed Chodur in Sunday's fifth-place match vs. Madison Standifer, another opponent from Wallace State Community College. Chodur defeated Standifer in straight sets, taking the match 6-3, 7-5 to end her three-day run.

"Emma definitely represented College of the Canyons well," said COC head coach Patty LaBat, who also attended the event. "It was a great experience to begin the 2025-26 season, and we're all excited to see Emma play this spring."

Canyons will compete in a pair of offseason matches next month, before seeing its regular season schedule start on Jan. 27, vs. Orange Coast College.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.