Honors & Awards:
2012 All-CAA First Team Doubles (Maryna Kozachenko)
2012 All-CAA Second Team Singles
CAA Player of the Week (3/20/12)
Fall 2012: Competed in all three fall tournaments for the Panthers ... Won a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 match against Kentucky's Kristen Lewis at the Roberta Allison Fall Classic in October ... Defeated UCF's Josephine Haraldson 6-2, 6-3 at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships ... Earned a 6-3 doubles mark in the fall with three different partners ... Went 3-0 with Masa Grgan at the Atlanta Classic in September ... Earned two doubles wins with Jocelyn Ffriend at the Southern Shootout vs. competition from NC State.
Spring 2012: Earned All-CAA First Team Doubles honors with partner Maryna Kozachenko ... Also named an All-CAA Second Team Singles honoree ... Earned the CAA Womens' Tennis Player of the Week award on Mar. 20 ... Defeated South Carolina's Dominika Kanakova 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles match ... Went 12-6 in singles play on the season ... Closed the year with four straight singles victories ... Defeated one regionally-ranked opponent, USF's Fanny Fracassi, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 ... Byrd and Kozachenko accumulated a 7-2 record on the season as a tandem ... Clinched victories over two nationally-ranked opponents, vs. No. 43 William & Mary and at No. 37 USF, with singles wins.
Fall 2011: Compiled a 6-5 singles record in the fall and a 4-4 doubles record with two different partners ... Went undefeated in singles at the Southern Shootout in her first action in the fall ... Notched singles victories over opponents from Jacksonville, South Alabama and Samford ... Earned two singles victories in the Atlanta Classic ... Earned a 8-2 doubles victory with teammate Masa Grgan over Mississippi's Iris Verboven and Paige Keating on the first day at the Roberta Allison Fall Classic ... The duo defeated Mississippi State's Olesya Tsigvintseva and Petra Ferancova 8-3 the next day ... Earned a first round victory at the ITA Regionals before falling in the second round to reigning ITA Southeast Region Rookie of the Year Olivia Janowicz from Florida.
2010-11: Transfered to Georgia State
Auburn Montgomery: Was named as a second team NAIA all-American in 2010...played two seasons at Auburn-Montgomery ... Played at the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 singles positions ... She helped lead her team to the 2009 NAIA National Championship and the 2010 runner-up finish ... Was ranked as high as No. 24 in the NAIA rankings.
Prep: Was a four-star recruit according to Tennis Recruiting.net ... Had a 5-1 record over other four star recruits ... Was ranked as high as No. 5 in the state of Georgia and No. 52 nationally.
Personal: Full name is Whitney Shanise Byrd ... Born on January 8, 1988 in Atlanta...Daughter of Charles and Gladys Byrd ... Has twin brothers Jason (15) and Justin (15) ... Father played tennis at GSU back in the 80's ... Favorite athlete is Mike Vick and favorite sports team is the Celtics ... Majoring in journalism.
