Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women's tennis head coach Bret Beaver continues to build the Catamount 2026-27 roster, this time hitting the transfer portal to bring in two, Thalia Smith (Gastonia, N.C.) from Marshall and Nathalie Marinovitch (Cochabamba, Bolivia) from Elon, to help bolster the squad's lineup.
Smith and Marinovitch are the third and fourth newcomers for 2026-27, joining international freshmen signees Laura Sparnina (Riga, Latvia), inked in the fall, and Chane Steyn (South Africa), announced in early May.
Smith joins the Catamounts after posting a 19-11 season for the Thunder Herd across the 2025 fall and 2026 spring seasons. During her freshman season, she primarily played on the back three courts in the spring, competing as the sixth seed throughout Marshall's Sun Belt Conference Tournament runner-up performance. Smith also excelled in the classroom, posting a 3.9 GPA during her time in Huntington, W. Va.
A blue-chip recruit, Smith was ranked as high as the 11th-best high schooler in the nation and was the top prospect in the state of North Carolina as a prep. Originally a five-star recruit out of Gastonia, N.C., Smith represents the highest-rated signee in WCU women's tennis program history, according to TennisRecruiting.net.
Marinovitch joins the Catamounts after spending a season in Elon, N.C., competing as the sixth seed for the Phoenix. She posted a 2-2 record in singles play and led in two other singles matches when play concluded. She has experience against SoCon competition as well, earning a singles win over Wofford's Marie Henriksen (6-4, 7-5) and getting a doubles win over Furman's team of Bianca Ceroni and Macy Hitchcock (7-5). The Bolivian-born product also led 5-7, 6-4, 2-1 in her singles match against Furman's Molly Robinson when the match was decided.
The transfer duo joins a Catamount roster that returns its top court competitors in second-team All-SoCon selection Mariya Dobreva, CSC Academic All-District selection Mia Miranda, and sophomore Kelly Coetzee.
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