University of Mary Washington senior women's tennis player Riley Smith (Leola, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) has been named as the 2022-23 UMW Athletics Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

A business administration major with a minor is English literature, Riley captured Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors with a perfect 4.0 GPA. The recent graduate  posted six wins in singles and nine in doubles this season.  She also works as an academic counselor and organizes volunteer activities for the team. She gained second team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles.

Academically, Smith was a co-winner of the Colgate W. Darden, Jr. Award at UMW's graduation as the graduate with the top undergraduate grade-point average, becoming the fifth Eagle student-athlete to claim that award in the past nine years. She is a three-year member of the UMW Athletic Honor Roll and C2C All-Academic Team. 

During the 2023 Commencement, Smith and her teammates were competing in the NCAA D3 Women's Tennis Tournament in Middletown, Connecticut.

As an honors student, she has immersed herself in the intricacies of antitrust law, scrutinized U.S. Supreme Court cases, and analyzed relevant legislation and case law researching and crafting her honors project, "The NCAA's Conflict with Antitrust Law and the Future of Student-Athlete Compensation," which delved into the intersection of amateur athletes and name, image, likeness concerns within college athletics.

The longest running award in the athletic department, the Male and Female Scholar-Athletes have been presented every year since 1990-91, and Smith becomes the sixth women's tennis player to win the award.