ELON, NC – UNC Greensboro had four
women's tennis players earn All-Southern Conference honors
– the most for the program since joining the league –
when the conference's annual awards were announced
Thursday.
Alejandra Guerra earned first-team honors in singles while the duos
of Guerra and Arielle VonStrolley and Valerie Behr and Lucy
Dougherty were selected as first-team doubles tandems. Dougherty
also earned second-team accolades in singles.
The four players earning all-conference honors were the most for
UNCG since the Spartans had five players earn All-Big South honors
in 1997. It is the first time since 1998 that two tandems from the
same school earned first-team All-SoCon honors in the same
year.
Guerra, the 2008 Southern Conference Player of the Year, has
already tied her own school record for wins in a season. Currently
ranked No. 83 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Top
125, she enters this weekend's Southern Conference Tournament
with a mark of 27-8 overall, including 15-3 this spring and 9-1 in
league play. The senior from Tampico, Mexico, has suffered each of
her three losses this spring to players ranked in the Top 50,
including a setback to Furman's Laura Gioia, who was named
the SoCon Player of the Year and is currently ranked No. 19.
VonStrolley, a senior from Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and Guerra are 22-8
in doubles play this season, including 15-4 in the spring season,
and are currently on a nine-match winning streak. They were 9-1 in
league play this season. VonStrolley was a first-team doubles
selection for the third consecutive year, having earned first-team
honors with Guerra last season and with Erica Zabkar in 2007.
Behr, a junior from Wesel, Germany, and Dougherty, a freshman
Melbourne, Australia, were a perfect 10-0 in SoCon action at No. 2
doubles this season. For the spring, they went 15-3 and are 17-7
overall on the year. They enter this weekend's conference
tournament with an eight-match winning streak.
Dougherty earned second-team honors from her No. 5 singles
position. For the year, Dougherty is 21-8, chasing Zabkar's
freshman record for wins in a season at 23. She is 16-3 this
spring, including a 15-1 mark at the No. 5 singles position. She
has won 16 of her last 17 matches, including nine straight. In the
last three weeks of the season, there may have been no hotter
player in the league. In her nine-match winning streak, Dougherty
has played 19 sets, winning nine of them by 6-0 scores and four
more by 6-1 scores.
Along with Gioia winning Player of the Year honors, Elon's
Elisa Simonetti was named Freshman of the Year. Furman's
Debbie Southern was named Coach of the Year, while
Chattanooga's Grace Robinette and Davidson's Virginia
Berry shared the league's Sportsmanship Award.
The Spartans (14-5, 8-2 SoCon) are seeded third in this
weekend's Southern Conference Tournament and will face the
winner of Thursday's match between No. 11 Western Carolina
and the tournament host, sixth-seeded Elon. That quarterfinal match
will be played Friday at 1 pm.
AGATE
2009 Women's Tennis Award Winners
First Team
Singles
Monica Arguello, Furman
Virginia Berry, Davidson
Laura Gioia, Furman
Alejandra Guerra, UNC Greensboro
Anna Milian, Elon
Taylor Morgan, Samford
Doubles
Laura Gioia/ Monica Arguello – Furman
Alejandra Guerra/Arielle VonStrolley – UNC
Greensboro
Valerie Behr/Lucy Dougherty – UNC
Greensboro
Second Team
Singles (by position)
No. 1 – Michele Fanney, Davidson
No. 2 – Holly Dowse – CofC
No. 3 – Jessica Preeg, Furman
No. 4 – Melanie Rolle, Georgia Southern
No. 5 – Lucy Dougherty, UNC Greensboro
No. 6 – Jennifer Betts, Furman
Doubles
No. 1 - Paige Kensrue/Anna Milian – Elon
No. 2 - Jessica Diamond/Andrie Meiring – Samford
No. 3 - Holly Dowse/Caroline Newman - CofC
All-Freshman Team
Caroline Newman, CofC
Shaina Singh, Chattanooga
Emily Hangstefer, Chattanooga
Elisa Simonetti, Elon
Susan Bitetti, Furman
Lucy Dougherty, UNC Greensboro
Player of the Year - Laura Gioia, Furman
Freshman of the Year- Elisa Simonetti, Elon
Sportsmanship Award - Virginia Berry, Davidson;
Grace Robinette, Chattanooga
Coach of the Year - Debbie Southern, Furman
- UNCG -