Huskers Ink Rioko UmekuniHuskers Ink Rioko Umekuni
Women's Tennis

Huskers Ink Rioko Umekuni

The Nebraska women’s tennis team has signed true freshman Rioko Umekuni from Saitama, Japan, for an addition to its 2025-26 squad. The future Husker brings a host of success in juniors, including most recently qualifying for the 2025 Australian Open Juniors.

“We are very excited to add Rioko to the Husker family this coming fall,” head coach German Dalmagro said. “Since the beginning of the recruiting process Rioko was very excited about Nebraska and what we have to offer. She can see herself developing here to be the best she can be. She’s a great competitor on court, plays with a lot of passion and she’s looking forward to being in a team environment. Most importantly she is a great person. We look for players that want to compete and get better each day, but also be a great teammate, Rioko is that and we look forward to her being on campus.”

Umekuni has an ITF Junior career-high ranking of 214, and reached No. 1 in National Doubles Rankings in 2019, when she also won the All Japan Doubles Tournament. She was a part of the 2021 World Junior Tennis Tour Finals National Team, and in 2024, was the singles winner at ITF Junior J60 India, and the doubles winner at ITF Junior J200 China.

“I decided to attend the University of Nebraska because during my official visit, I felt the atmosphere of the tennis team was amazing and the environment was excellent for me to focus on tennis,” Umekuni said. “Also, the university offers academic support which makes me feel more confident in both athletic and academic fields during my college career. I am super excited.”

Umekuni plans to study physical therapy at Nebraska. Rioko’s older sister, Risako, is a senior at New Haven, in her fourth year of collegiate tennis.