Now entering her second season as head coach of VCU Women’s Tennis, Rifa Kahfiani has already established herself as one of the nation’s top young coaches. In her debut campaign, she was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year after guiding the Rams to a 14-11 record, the program’s fifth A-10 Championship in seven years, and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Rams defeated Saint Louis (4-0), Rhode Island (4-1), Fordham (4-2), and Richmond (4-1) en route to the title before falling to North Carolina in the NCAA First Round. The Tar Heels went on to advance to the semifinals of the national tournament.
Under Kahfiani’s guidance, four Rams were recognized as A-10 All-Conference selections. Tania Isabel Andrade, Mariam Ibrahim, and Sofia Thorne were First Team honorees, while Yelizaveta Karlova earned Second Team accolades. Kahfiani also mentored freshman Sofia Thorne, who earned two A-10 Rookie of the Week honors. That success was reflected in the team's overall performance as Kahfiani guided the Rams to a 77% winning percentage against A-10 competition. Her leadership also extended beyond the court, as seven Rams earned Scholar-Athlete recognition for maintaining GPAs of 3.5 or higher.
After leading VCU to the conference title and earning Coach of the Year recognition, she was officially promoted to head coach in the summer of 2025. The previous year, Kahfiani had been elevated to interim head coach in August 2024, following a spring season in which she helped guide the Rams to a 14-9 record and a slew of A-10 Conference honors as an assistant coach.
“The legacy of VCU Women's Tennis is both competitive and inspiring, and I'm excited to step into this leadership role," Kahfiani said. "The strong relationships I have with our players and support staff are the foundation of our success, and I’m eager to build on that to achieve even greater things. I'm committed to excellence both on the court and in the classroom, and I'm fired up to push this team forward while continuing to uphold the excellence that defines VCU Women's Tennis."
During her year as assistant coach with the Rams, Kahfiani was critical to the development of 2024 A-10 Co-Rookie of the Year Tiziana Rossini. Under her watch, five players garnered A-10 Conference honors in 2024, including a pair of First Team selections.
Kahfiani originally joined the Rams in 2023, following a stint as the interim head coach at Ball State, as well as work as an academy coach in her home country of Indonesia, where she trained more than 20 high-performance players.
As a former ITA pro and a junior professional player, she competed at Wimbledon and the Australian Open and represented Indonesia on the Junior Fed Cup Team in 2011, 2012, and 2014. In 2019, she also represented Indonesia at the Southeast Asian Games. At one point, she was ranked No. 392 in the ITF singles pro ranking and No. 1078 in doubles, as well as No. 90 in the ITF Junior Rankings.
While earning her undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Sports Marketing at Oregon, Kahfiani helped the Ducks achieve their highest team ranking in program history (No. 17) and reached No. 56 in the ITA doubles rankings in 2019. She also spent time as a volunteer assistant coach for Notre Dame during the 2021–2022 season, where she helped with practices, administrative duties, and managed the team’s social media page. Kahfiani is a certified coach by the Global Professional Tennis Coach Association.
She later joined the staff at Ball State while completing a Master’s in Communication and Information Sciences, where she helped the Cardinals win the MAC Conference Tournament Championship, qualify for the NCAA Tournament, and earn the highest team ranking in program history (No. 74).
