Budin Named 2021 Kay Pearson Keating Award Winner
5/12/2021 3:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MVP for Women's Tennis
Maria Budin has been named the 2021 winner of the Kay Pearson Keating Award as the MVP of the Rice women's tennis team.
The sophomore from Bristol, United Kingdom reached double figures in wins in both singles and doubles, ending the season with an 11-6 mark in singles and combining with Diae El Jardi for a 13-5 mark at the first doubles line to earn second team All-Conference USA honors.
She won her last four singles matches, and was 2-0 in singles at the C-USA Championship. The 13 wins at the first doubles line are the most for the Owls since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were 20-6 in 2013. Budin and El Jardi were 4-2 vs. ranked opponents (all in the top 55), the most since Beazant and Harmath were 6-6 vs. ranked opponents in 2013. Their highest ranked win came vs. Texas Tech's Lisa Mays and Kaitlin Staines (#43). Budin added a singles win vs. Tech as well and was named Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week for her efforts as Rice defeated the Red Raiders for the first time in eight years.
The first woman to be inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame, Pearson Keating was the first female athlete in the history of The Rice Institute to gain considerable state and national acclaim for her exploits. As Kay Pearson while attending Rice, she earned All-America status by winning the 1934 National College Girls Invitational Tennis Championship in singles and doubles. She was the women's champion at Rice from 1932 to 1936 and won the Houston City Tennis champion nine times between 1931and 1940 in addition to a host of AAU titles for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
Shortly before graduating from Rice in 1936, Pearson took up golf and won her first Houston City Women's championship two years later. She won the city title six times, with a five-year gap in the middle of her run due to World War II. She was the Texas Women's State champion in 1941 and again in 1947. In 1939, she tied for medalist honors at the Women's Southern Championship.
Keating Pearson was named a Honorary Member of the "R" Association in the fall of 1982 and became the first woman inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. A lifetime supporter of the Owl Club, she endowed the award that bears her name.
The sophomore from Bristol, United Kingdom reached double figures in wins in both singles and doubles, ending the season with an 11-6 mark in singles and combining with Diae El Jardi for a 13-5 mark at the first doubles line to earn second team All-Conference USA honors.
She won her last four singles matches, and was 2-0 in singles at the C-USA Championship. The 13 wins at the first doubles line are the most for the Owls since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were 20-6 in 2013. Budin and El Jardi were 4-2 vs. ranked opponents (all in the top 55), the most since Beazant and Harmath were 6-6 vs. ranked opponents in 2013. Their highest ranked win came vs. Texas Tech's Lisa Mays and Kaitlin Staines (#43). Budin added a singles win vs. Tech as well and was named Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week for her efforts as Rice defeated the Red Raiders for the first time in eight years.
The first woman to be inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame, Pearson Keating was the first female athlete in the history of The Rice Institute to gain considerable state and national acclaim for her exploits. As Kay Pearson while attending Rice, she earned All-America status by winning the 1934 National College Girls Invitational Tennis Championship in singles and doubles. She was the women's champion at Rice from 1932 to 1936 and won the Houston City Tennis champion nine times between 1931and 1940 in addition to a host of AAU titles for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
Shortly before graduating from Rice in 1936, Pearson took up golf and won her first Houston City Women's championship two years later. She won the city title six times, with a five-year gap in the middle of her run due to World War II. She was the Texas Women's State champion in 1941 and again in 1947. In 1939, she tied for medalist honors at the Women's Southern Championship.
Keating Pearson was named a Honorary Member of the "R" Association in the fall of 1982 and became the first woman inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. A lifetime supporter of the Owl Club, she endowed the award that bears her name.
Players Mentioned
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