April 23, 2009
The Big Ten Conference announced today the 2009 Women’s Tennis All-Big Ten team and individual honorees. Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. Mosolova was a perfect 10-0 in singles as well as doubles play during Big Ten action and will look to enter postseason play as the top-ranked singles athlete in the country by the ITA.
Iowa’s Sonja Molnar was honored as Freshman of the Year, the first for a Hawkeye athlete since 2004. Ranked 91st in the nation by the ITA, Molnar leads the Hawkeyes with a 17-4 overall singles record, finishing the season with an 8-2 conference slate.
Northwestern head coach Claire Pollard earned the nod as Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and for the fifth time in her career. Pollard’s Wildcats finished 22-1 on the season and went 10-0 in conference play for a fifth straight year en route to capturing their 11th consecutive Big Ten regular season title. NU’s unblemished conference season featured eight 7-0 sweeps and two 6-1 victories, upping the ‘Cats winning streak to 74 matches against Big Ten opponents.The Wildcats currently rank No. 1 in the ITA national standings, where they have remained throughout the duration of the 2009 campaign.
The Conference office also announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The 11 student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the Conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
A complete list of the 2009 All-Big Ten team and postseason honorees appears below.
Athlete of the Year:
Maria Mosolova, Northwestern
Freshman of the Year:
Sonja Molnar, Iowa
Coach of the Year:
Claire Pollard, Northwestern
2009 All-Big Ten Team
Megan Fudge, ILL
Leigh Finnegan, ILL
Sonja Molnar, IOWA*
Chisako Sugiyama, MICH*
Rika Tatsuno, MICH*
Lauren Lui, NU
Maria Mosolova, NU*
Samantha Murray, NU
Georgia Rose, NU*
Kirsten Flower, OSU
Michelle Sammons, PUR
Elizabeth Carpenter, WIS
*unanimous selection
2009 Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Amy Allin, ILL
Sigrid Fischer, IND
Allison Majercik, IOWA
Whitney Taney, MICH
Dana Guentert, MSU
Alessandra Ferrazzi, MINN
Lauren Lui, NU
Christina Keesey, OSU
Maria Prishlyak, PSU
Jennifer Rabot, PUR
Katya Mirnova, WIS
|
|
 |
