University of Miami Athletics

Isabella Pfennig

Height

5-3

Class

Junior

Hometown

Gauting, Germany

High School

Otto-von-Taube Gymnasium Gauting

Instagram

@bella.pfennig

Isabella Pfennig - Women's Tennis - University of Miami Athletics

Career Honors:
2024 All-ACC Second Team (singles), Third Team (doubles)
2024 All-ACC Academic Team
2024 ITA Scholar-Athlete
2024 CSC Academic All-American Third Team
2023 ITA Southeast Regional Doubles Champion
2023 CSC Academic All-American First Team
2023 All-ACC Third Team (singles & doubles)
2023 All-ACC Academic Team
2023 ITA Scholar-Athlete
2022 All-ACC Third Team
2022 All-ACC Academic Team
2022 ITA Scholar-Athlete
2021 ITA All-American (singles)
2021 ITA Southeast Region Rookie of the Year
2021 All-ACC Second Team
2021 All-ACC Academic Team
2021 4x ACC Freshman of the Week
2021 ITA Scholar-Athlete

2023-24 (Senior)
  • Qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships with Xinyi Nong
  • Earned All-ACC Second Team (singles), Third Team (doubles)
  • 22-14 overall singles record; 12-7 in dual matches; 10-7 fall record; 8-4 in ACC play; 11 ranked wins
  • 22-14 overall doubles record; 10-9 in dual matches; 12-5 fall record; 7-4 in ACC play; 3 ranked wins
  • Clinched four matches, including Miami’s 4-3 win over No. 9 Texas A&M after defeating No. 31. Nicole Khirin
  • Secured two doubles points (FIU & Louisville)
  • Named an ITA Scholar-Athlete and to the All-ACC Academic Team
  • Was a CSC Academic All-American (third team)
2022-23 (Junior)

Finished 23-15 in singles and 19-12 in doubles … Became the third player in program history to be a three-time All-ACC honoree … Slotted as high as No. 66 in the ITA singles rankings and finished at No. 70, as well as No. 10 in the ITA Southeast Region … Alongside Alexa Noel, peaked at No. 16 in the ITA doubles rankings and ended the year at No. 36, plus placed third in the ITA Southeast Region … Competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship … Totaled a 7-10 record against ranked singles players, including a 5-3 mark in her final eight such outings, a 4-5 ledger against the top 50 and a 2-2 mark versus the top-20 with a top-five victory in her lone such opportunity … Logged a 2-4 mark versus ranked doubles pairs with two top-12 wins and one top-five triumph … Defeated the NCAA Singles Championship runner-up and the NCAA Doubles Championship victors … Placed second on the team in combined singles/doubles victories (42), singles victories, spring singles victories (18), dual match singles victories (18), dual match singles winning percentage (.782), ACC singles victories (11), ACC singles winning percentage (.846), ranked singles victories, doubles victories and doubles dual match winning percentage (.737) … Finished third in combined singles/doubles victories (nine), doubles winning percentage (.613), spring doubles victories (15), spring doubles winning percentage (.652) and dual match doubles victories (14), as well as co-third in combined singles/doubles winning percentage (.609), ACC doubles victories (seven) and ACC doubles winning percentage (.636) … Finished 18-8 in spring singles action, including 18-5 in dual matches and 11-2 in ACC competition, primarily competing at the No. 3 spot … Went 10-1 in an 11-match span from 3/24 to 5/5, including posting seven straight triumphs to end that span … Beat No. 80 Anna Supapitch Kuearum of No. 24 Iowa State, 6-3, 6-4, during ITA Kick-Off Weekend … Playing at the No. 2 position, topped FGCU’s Fanny Norin, 6-1, 6-1 … Won, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), against Sophia Edwards at No. 46 Boston College … Recorded a 6-4, 6-1 decision against Jantje Tilbuerger at No. 23 UCF … Edged Olympe Lancelot, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 40 Florida State … Knocked off No. 18 Amelia Rajecki, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the victory over fifth-ranked NC State … Rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win against Whitley Pate of No. 19 Wake Forest … Beat No. 89 Hibah Shaikh, 6-2, 6-1, in the triumph against ninth-ranked Virginia … Toppled No. 31 Emma Jackson, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, at eighth-ranked Duke … Posted a 6-0, 6-1 result versus Yashna Yellayi of No. 23 Notre Dame … Earned a 6-3, 6-1 win against Jenna Thompson at No. 37 Clemson … Defeated No. 108 Alejandra Cruz, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, at No. 20 Georgia Tech … Logged a 6-0, 6-2 triumph over Jenna Thompson of No. 42 Clemson in the second round of the ACC Championship … Edged No. 10 Virginia’s Elaine Chervinsky, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), in the ACC quarterfinals … Posted a 6-1, 6-3 win over Victoria Carlsten of Boston University in the NCAA Team Championship Round of 64 for her seventh straight victory … Notched a 15-8 spring doubles ledger, finishing 14-5 in dual matches and 7-4 in ACC play, almost exclusively at the No. 2 position … Totaled a 10-1 record in a 15-match stretch from 1/15 to 3/26, including an 8-0 mark over 10 matches from 1/15 to 3/5 … Went 13-6 with Noel, 1-0 with Daevenia Achong and 1-2 with Mia Mack … Partnered with Mack to beat Gina Dittman/Anna Zyryanova of eventual NCAA runner-up NC State, 6-3, in the Miami Spring Invite … Teamed with Achong for a 6-3 decision over Emma Bardet/Ida Ferding of FGCU at the No. 1 spot … Playing with Noel, logged a 6-2 result against Seren Agar/Hailey Wilcox at No. 46 Boston College … Won, 6-3, against Ines Fonte/Viktoriya Kanapatskaya at No. 53 Syracuse … Earned a 6-2 victory over Sophia Biolay/Marie Mattel at No. 23 UCF … Tallied a 6-2 decision versus Anna Arkadianou/Millie Bissett at No. 40 Florida State for an eighth straight win … Downed No. 19 Wake Forest’s Anna Brylin/Jingyi Li, 6-4 … Toppled No. 11 Julia Adams/Melodie Collard, 6-0, in the victory over ninth-ranked Virginia … Knocked off fourth-ranked Fiona Crawley/Carson Tanguilig, the eventual NCAA champions, in 6-4 fashion at top-ranked North Carolina … Posted a 6-2 triumph against Monika Dedadj/Kate Sharabura at No. 20 Georgia Tech … Logged a 6-1 win over Daniella Medvedeva/Cristina Mayorova of No. 37 Clemson in the ACC Championship second round … Defeated Boston University’s Michelle Kleynerman/Shelly Yaloz, 6-3, in the NCAA Team Championship opening round … Topped DJ Bennett/Kaitlyn Carnicella of No. 18 Auburn, 6-1, in the NCAA Round of 32 … Finished 5-7 in fall singles competition … Won one match in the Fall Ranked Spotlight, a 6-3, 6-4 triumph against fourth-ranked Layne Sleeth, an eventual NCAA finalist … Split a pair of matches in ITA Women’s All-American Championships qualifying, downing No. 46 Giulia Morlet of Arizona State, 7-5, 6-3 … Notched a 2-1 mark in the ITA Southeast Regional Championships …. Split two matches in the Miami Fall Invite … Went 4-4 in fall doubles action, going 2-0 with Mack and 2-4 with Maya Tahan … Compiled, alongside Tahan, a 2-1 record in the ITA Southeast Regional Championships, including beating Alice Amendola/Kianah Motosono of Florida State, 8-4, to reach the quarterfinals … Paired with Mack to go 2-0 in the Miami Fall Invite, including downing Rachel Gailis/Bente Spee of Florida, 7-6 (7-5).

2021-22 (Sophomore)

Totaled a 23-15 record in singles and an 18-11 mark in doubles … Became one of 18 Hurricanes to earn multiple All-ACC Academic Team recognitions … Peaked at No. 16 in the ITA national singles rankings and ended the season at No. 88, as well No. 10 in the ITA Southeast Region … Placed as high as No. 31 in the doubles rankings alongside Diana Khodan … Finished 7-8 versus ranked singles players, posting three top-40 triumphs and logging a 6-1 mark in her last seven such matches, and 1-1 against ranked doubles tandems … Led Miami in dual match singles winning percentage (.810), dual match doubles winning percentage (.706) and ACC doubles winning percentage (.800) … Placed second on the team in ranked singles victories, as well as tied for second in dual match singles wins (17) and ACC singles wins (eight) … Ended the year third in overall singles victories, combined singles/doubles ranked victories (eight), spring singles victories (17), spring singles winning percentage (.708) and spring doubles winning percentage (.684), while tying for third in spring doubles wins (13), dual match doubles wins (12) and ACC singles winning percentage (.667) … Finished 17-7 in spring singles competition, including 17-4 in dual matches and 8-4 in ACC play, while holding the No. 3 spot in all but one outing … Went 11-1 in the first 12 dual matches, earning seven straight victories from 1/20 to 2/25 … In her lone appearance at the No. 2 spot, posted a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Emma Bardet at FGCU … Edged No. 39 Snow Han of No. 15 USC, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 … Defeated No. 17 Old Dominion’s Marina Alcaide, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 … Logged a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 decision versus No. 121 Marie Mattel of No. 19 UCF … Topped No. 73 Kylie Bilchev of Georgia Tech, 6-3, 6-4 … Picked up a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over No. 84 Casie Wooten at No. 15 Wake Forest … Tallied a 6-3, 6-4 win against Priska Nugroho, the eventual ACC Freshman of the Year, at second-ranked NC State … Took down No. 26 Natasha Subhash, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 11 Virginia … Beat No. 32 Georgia Tech’s Ava Hrastar, 6-3, 6-3, in the ACC Championship quarterfinals … Earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory against No. 124 Emma Jackson of fifth-ranked Duke in the ACC semifinals … Turned in a 13-6 record in spring doubles play, including a 12-5 mark in dual matches and a 4-1 figure in ACC competition … Played exclusively at No. 3 alongside Audrey Boch-Collins … In the Miami Spring Invite, produced a 6-0 win against Gabby Cusano/Simran Kortikere of the eventual NCAA champion, Texas … Logged a 6-1 triumph over Sloane Morra/Danielle Wilson of No. 15 USC … Topped Marina Alcaide/Shahar Biran of No. 17 Old Dominion, 6-1 … Beat No. 19 UCF’s Anique Kattenberg/Noel Saidenova, 6-0 … Registered a second straight 6-0 win with a decision against Gia Cohen/Ruth Marsh of No. 47 Georgia Tech … Downed Saby Nihalani/Peyton Pesavento at No. 15 Wake Forest, 6-1 … Earned a 6-2 triumph over Elaine Chervinsky/Natasha Subhash at No. 11 Virginia … Won, 6-3, against Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy of No. 10 Duke … Tallied a 6-1 decision against No. 61 Stetson’s Noa Cohen/Anais Gabriel in the NCAA Team Championship Round of 64 … Finished 6-8 in fall singles action, with five of the setbacks against ranked foes, including three in the top 30 … Went 1-4 in the Fall Ranked Spotlight, starting it with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Alexandra Pisareva of the eventual NCAA runner-up, Oklahoma … Finished 1-1 at the ITA Women’s All-American Championships, defeating No. 29 Ayana Akli of South Carolina, 6-3, 6-2 … Totaled a 1-1 ledger at the June Stewart Invitational … Posted a 2-1 mark at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships, including beating Georgia Tech’s Rosie Garcia Gross, 6-1, 6-0 … Notched a 1-1 record in the Miami Fall Invite … Posted a 5-5 fall doubles mark with two different partners … Alongside Khodan, went 1-2 at the Fall Ranked Spotlight with a 7-6 (7-3) victory against No. 46 Jaedan Brown/Kari Miller of Michigan … Playing with Boch-Collins, amassed a 2-1 ledger at the June Stewart Invitational … Tallied a 1-1 record at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships … Went 1-1 in the Miami Fall Invite, defeating Kentucky’s Carla Girbau/Florencia Urrutia, 6-2.

2020-21 (Freshman)

No fall season due to COVID-19 pandemic … Went 18-6 in singles and 12-8 in doubles … Ninth freshman in program history to earn ITA All-America status, including the eighth in singles and first since 2017 … One of six true freshmen nationally to garner the accolade in singles … Seeded No. 9-16 in the NCAA Singles Championship and reached the second round … Competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship … Peaked at No. 10 in the ITA singles rankings on multiple occasions and ended the year at No. 26, sixth-highest among true freshmen … Placed eighth in the ITA Southeast Region … Ranked as high as No. 19 on the ITA doubles list, finishing No. 26 … Came in seventh in the ITA Southeast Region … Went 9-6 versus ranked singles foes with five top-35 triumphs … Posted a 4-6 mark against ranked doubles pairs, with all four victories over top-25 duos … Tied for the team lead in ACC doubles wins (seven) and winning percentage (.636) … Ranked second on Miami in singles wins and winning percentage (.750), as well as in combined singles/doubles victories (30) and combined winning percentage (.682) … Placed second in combined ACC singles/doubles wins (17) and winning percentage (.708), plus ranked singles triumphs (nine) and combined ranked victories (13), as well as tied for second in ACC singles victories (10) … After starting as low as No. 5 and No. 6 in the singles lineup, spent nearly the entire season at the No. 2 spot … Finished 17-5 in dual matches, including 10-3 in ACC action … Notched a seven-match winning streak from March 14 to April 2 … Opened her career with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Florida Atlantic’s Louie McLelland … Defeated No. 23 Ole Miss’ Elysia Pool, 6-2, 6-1 … Topped Anessa Lee of No. 15 Vanderbilt, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) … In her lone match at the No. 3 spot, beat No. 123 Gia Cohen, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), at No. 12 Georgia Tech for her first ranked win … Took over the No. 2 spot at Clemson, logging a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Jenna Thompson … Toppled No. 28 Georgia Drummy, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, at eighth-ranked Duke … Defeated No. 76 Yufei Long, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, at Boston College … Beat No. 32 Anna Campana of No. 26 Wake Forest, 6-4, 6-2 … Knocked off No. 27 Alana Smith of No. 11 NC State, 7-6 (11-9), 2-6, 6-3, saving nine set points in the opener … Earned a 6-3, 6-4 decision against No. 31 Emmanuelle Salas at fourth-ranked Florida State … Again beat Salas, this time in 6-4, 6-2 fashion with her ranked No. 42, in Miami’s ACC Championship quarterfinal win over the sixth-ranked Seminoles … Posted a 7-6 (7-0), 6-2 result against No. 93 Marina Alcaide of No. 41 FIU in the NCAA Team Championship Round of 64 … Edged No. 35 Anna Turati of national title-winning Texas, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship … Opened the season at No. 3 doubles, moved up to No. 2 and eventually played at No. 1 nearly all year … Went 12-7 in dual matches, including 7-4 in ACC play … Finished 10-7 with Perez-Somarriba, 1-0 with Selma Cadar and 1-1 with Daevenia Achong … Paired with Achong to defeat Tiphanie Fiquet/Kelsey Mize of No. 23 Ole Miss, 6-3 … Alongside Perez-Somarriba, notched a 6-0 win over Gia Cohen/Sophia Sassoli at No. 12 Georgia Tech … Topped No. 25 Yufei Long/Kylie Wilcox at Boston College for her first win at the top spot … Edged No. 19 Cameron Corse/Page Freeman of No. 47 Notre Dame, 7-5 … Defeated No. 23 Carolyn Campana/Eliza Omirou of No. 26 Wake Forest, 6-4 … Posted a 6-3 victory over No. 20 Victoria Allen/Emmanuelle Salas in the ACC Championship second-round win against sixth-ranked Florida State … Beat Ksenia Kuznetsova/Valeriya Zeleva, 6-2, at ninth-ranked UCF in the NCAA Team Championship Round of 32.

Prior to Miami

Peaked at No. 1,012 in the WTA rankings in September 2018 … Ascended as high as No. 556 on the ITF Juniors list in June 2019 despite limited competitions … Placed No. 41 in Germany’s senior rankings in March 2020 … Former top-ranked U18 player in her home nation … Owns four German National Junior Championships crowns: 2018 U18 doubles, 2017 U16 singles, 2016 U16 doubles and 2015 U14 singles … Represented her homeland at the 2018 European Championship Tournaments in Klosters, Switzerland, and at the same event in 2017 in Moscow, reaching the Round of 16 both times … Competed for Germany at the 2017 U16 European Team Summer Cups in Rivne, Ukraine, and at the same tournament at the U14 level in 2016 in Izmir, Turkey … Won two national tournaments in 2020 and three in 2019 … Advanced to the quarterfinals of an ITF Grade 1 singles event in Offenbach, Germany, in June 2019, and defeated Alexandra Yepifanova, a finalist at the 2019 US Open Junior Championships … Christian Seraphim, a former top-ranked doubles player and team national champion at Wake Forest, also attended Otto-von-Taube Gymnasium Gauting.

Personal

Full name is Isabella Charlotte Pfennig … Last name is pronounced FENN-Igg … Goes by Bella … Born Nov. 18, 2001 … Parents are Michael and Sabine Pfennig … Father is a financial consultant and mother is a business administrator … Has an older brother, David, and a younger brother, Nicolas … Majoring in economics with a minor in accounting … Career goal outside of playing tennis is to be a manager or coach at a tennis academy … Enjoys playing ping pong and soccer … Favorite athlete is Dominic Thiem because of his intensity and fair play on the court … Best sports memory is winning the U16 German National Junior Championships in 2017 without dropping a set … Participated in multiple Model United Nations conferences in 2019 and 2020 … Served as the spokeswoman for German junior tennis players from 2017-19 … Chose Miami because of the quality of the team, the coaches, the academics and the campus … Committed to Miami over Georgia Tech, Harvard, USC and Yale.

SINGLES
YEAR TOTAL FALL DUAL ACC *RNK
2020-21 18-6 1-1 17-5 10-3 9-6
2021-22 23-15 6-11 17-4 8-4 7-8
2022-23 23-15 5-10 18-5 11-2 7-10
2023-24 22-14 10-7 12-7 8-4 11-12
CAREER 86-50 11-15 64-21 37-13 34-36
DOUBLES
YEAR TOTAL FALL DUAL ACC *RNK
2020-21 12-8 0-1 12-7 7-4 4-6
2021-22 18-11 6-6 12-5 4-1 1-1
2022-23 19-12 5-7 14-5 7-4 2-4
2023-24  22-14 12-5 10-9 7-4 3-10
CAREER 71-45 21-14 48-26 25-13 10-21

*RNK = record vs. ranked opponents
No fall season in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic