DENVER – MSU Denver has for decades been a leader in providing equal opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics.
Today is the 44
th installment of a 52-part tribute by Roadrunners Athletics to pioneers and leaders in intercollegiate athletics at MSU Denver. The series coincides with the passage of Title IX.
Each Thursday, a key female figure in Roadrunners athletics history will be recognized.
Today, tennis player
Tabitha Porter is featured.
Porter, the 2017 singles champion at the ITA Regional, was a two-time RMAC Player of the Year and is MSU Denver's all-time leader with 78 singles victories. She earned All-RMAC first team honors in No. 1 singles in each of league's final three years of sponsoring women's tennis and was All-RMAC first team in doubles in each of the league's final two seasons of tennis. Porter was the runner-up at the 2018 ITA Regional.
Porter was ranked as high as No. 6 nationally during her career – the highest ever for an MSU Denver player.
She finished her career with a record of 78-31, giving her 18 more wins than any MSU Denver player, and her .716 winning percentage ranks seventh in program history among those with at least 30 wins. She's also tied for third in program history in doubles wins, and her 68-30 record in doubles gave her a winning percentage of .694 that ranks eighth at MSU Denver. She's fifth in program history with 26 wins at No. 1 singles and fifth with a No. 1 singles winning percentage of .625 (25-16).
Porter set the program record with 25 singles wins in 2017, then tied the mark with 25 more wins the following season, going 25-5 and 25-12, respectively. Her 24 doubles wins in 2018 is tied for the most by an individual in program history, and her 22 doubles wins in 2017 ranks seventh.
She was also an Academic All-RMAC selection in 2019 and was Academic All-District in 2020.
Porter played for teams that were a combined 53-30, including 15-0 in regular-season RMAC play, with three RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament championships.
Title IX, the groundbreaking law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at schools that receive funding from the federal government, went into effect just over 50 years ago – on June 23, 1972.
