Santi Nalluri is the first women’s tennis player to be inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame
Nalluri had plenty of firsts for the program during her stellar playing career.
She was the first YSU women’s tennis player to win more than 30, 40 and 50 career matches. She was the first Penguin to be named an all-conference performer. And she was the first Conference Newcomer and Player of the Year for the Guins.
She was the Mid-Continent Conference’s Player of the Year in 1995-96, was a three-time first-team all-conference selection and was tabbed Newcomer of the Year. She played at the No. 1 spot in the lineup her entire YSU career.
Until this past spring, no player, other than Nalluri, had earned all three honors during their entire career since the program began in the early 1980s.
In the fall of 1996-97, she posted a 3-1 mark with wins over Pittsburgh, Malone and Saint Francis (Pa.).
In 1995-96, she posted 16 singles wins, which included victories over Pittsburgh, Eastern Kentucky, UNI and Cleveland State. She won eight matches in the fall and eight more in the spring. She was tabbed the Mid-Con’s Player of the Year and was a first-team all-conference pick.
Her best year was in 1994-95. She was 21-4 in singles play with 20 of those wins coming in straight sets. In the spring, she had wins over Cincinnati, Wright State, Buffalo, Cleveland State, Detroit, Duquesne and others. At one point she had an 11-match winning streak during the campaign. For her on-court efforts she was a first-team all-league pick.
As a freshman in 1993-94, she was unbeaten in the spring winning all 13 of her matches. The Conference’s Newcomer of the Year and a first-team all-league pick, she won every match she played, which included wins over Pittsburgh (twice), Cleveland State, Duquesne, Akron, Wright State, Dayton and others.
Nalluri works as a financial advisor for Ameriprise Financial in Canfield. She earned her bachelors degree from YSU and later received her MBA from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.
At Boardman High School, she was 69-0 in four years during the regular season. Nalluri was a four-time state qualifier and advanced to the semifinals as a sophomore and a junior. She finished third at the state championships as a sophomore.
Santi Nallapaneni, and her husband, Sudhir, have three children, Sretha, Sanjana and Sachin. The family resides in Canfield.
