MAC Women's Tennis Awards Announced

Bowling Green, Ohio – League champion Miami University captured two top awards and placed two first-team selections on the all-conference squad at the annual banquet at the Mid-American Conference’s women’s tennis championships on the campus of Bowling Green State University.

Head coach Howard Joffe nabbed Coach of the Year honors for directing the RedHawks to a perfect 8-0 league slate and the school’s first regular season title since 1999. Joffe was joined by newcomer Monica Gorny, tabbed as the league’s Freshman of the Year. Gorny also garnered first-team honors as did her teammate, sophomore Anastasia Dracheva.

Gorny was near perfect in league play, fashioning a 7-1 No. 1 singles slate and an 8-0 No. 2 doubles record. Dracheva was 8-0 at No. 2 singles and also 8-0 at No. 2 doubles. Gorny joins previous RedHawks Margit Berrios in 1995, and Natalia Soetrisno in 1996 as winners of the award.

Joffe’s honor records the ninth such in school history as he joins Leann Davidge (1981, 1983), Wendy Sweney (1988), Sue Hutchinson (1991, 1994), and Ray Reppert (1996, 1998, 1999) as the MAC women’s tennis Coach of the Year.

Akron freshman sensation Zara Harutyunyan was honored as the Player of the Year as she compiled a 7-1 conference record for the Zips at No. 1 singles, and a No. 1 doubles mark of 6-2 in league play. Overall she was 37-4 in singles and 33-6 in doubles in becoming the first player in school history to be named MAC Player of the Year.

Western Michigan’s Ashley Moccia was honored, in voting by the league student-athletes, with the Leann Grimes Davidge Sportsmanship Award. The award is presented to the player who has displayed outstanding sportsmanship in MAC competition. Moccia, a senior from Livonia, Mich., is the second Bronco is school history to be so honored, joining Fredericka Girsang (2004) with the prestigious honor.

Joining Harutyunyan , Gorny and Dracheva, as first-team all-conference selections are Western Michigan’s Kerstin Pahl, Buffalo’s Denise Harijanto, Toledo’s Maha Guirguis.

Pahl concluded her career with her third consecutive selection as a first-team All-MAC honoree. Pahl also was the league’s Freshman of the Year in 2006, and Player of the Year in 2008. Harijanto was named All-MAC for the third year in a row after second team selections in 2007 and 2008. Guirguis garnered her first-ever post season honor. Dracheva also gained first-team status in 2008 as a freshman.

Second team honors went to Anya Baronayte, Akron; Christine Chiricosta, Bowling Green;

Kelsey Jakupcin, Bowling Green; Smaranda Stan, Buffalo; Diana Popescu, Buffalo; and Emily Dudzik, Western Michigan.

Jakupcin was a first-team honoree in 2008 while her Falcon teammate Chiricosta is a repeat second team selection from a year ago. Dracheva and Popescu were named co-Freshman of the Year in 2008.

2009 All-MAC

FIRST TEAM

Zara Harutyunyan, Akron, Fr., Yerevan, Armenia

Denise Harijanto, Buffalo, Jr., Jakarta, Indonesia

Monica Gorny, Miami, Fr., Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Anastasia Dracheva, Miami, So., Moscow, Russia

Maha Guirguis, Toledo, Jr., Cairo, Egypt

Kerstin Pahl, Western Michigan, Sr., Kiel, Germany

SECOND TEAM

Anya Baronayte, Akron, So., St. Petersburg, Russia

Christine Chiricosta, Bowling Green, So., Avon Lake, Ohio

Kelsey Jakupcin, Bowling Green, Sr., Dublin, Ohio

Smaranda Stan, Buffalo, Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania

Diana Popescu, Buffalo, So., Alexandria, Romania

Emily Dudzik, Western Michigan, Jr., Gowen, Mich.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Howard Joffe, Miami

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Monica Gorny, Miami

PLAYER OF THEYEAR: Zara Harutyunyan, Akron

LEANN GRIMES DAVIDGE SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: Ashley Moccia, Western Michigan