The University of Akron Athletics
Gombera Named Second-Team All-MAC
April 25 | Women's Tennis
BUFFALO, N.Y.
– University of Akron tennis student-athlete Tanyaradzwa
Gombera (Harare, Zimbabwe/Chisipite Senior HS) was named
Second-Team All-Mid-American Conference and earned the league's
Leann Grimes Sportsmanship Award, the conference office announced
on Thursday. The league's nine head coaches voted on the
all-conference team.
Gombera, a junior, won the sportsmanship honor for the second time
in three seasons and is the first UA tennis player to be named
all-league since Irina Strembitsky garnered first-team recognition
in 2004. Gombera was officially honored at a banquet held in
conjunction with the MAC Championship at the University at Buffalo.
Due to a tie in the voting, she
actually shares the sportsmanship award with Miami's Kelly Douple
and Western Michigan's Noriko Saruta.
Gombera's 33 combined victories (17-21 in singles play/16-17 in
doubles play) this season ranks as the second most on the team, and
she plays at the squad's No. 1 position for both.
The sportsmanship award is voted on by the student-athletes from
each school based on a player who has displayed outstanding
sportsmanship in MAC competition. The award is named in honor of
Leann Grimes Davidge, who served as Miami's women's tennis coach
from 1978 until her death in an automobile accident in January
1985. During her years as head coach, Miami won three outright MAC
championships and shared another. Her peers chose her as the MAC
Coach of the Year in 1981 and 1983.
It is the fourth time a UA tennis athlete has earned the
sportsmanship award, with Gombera doing so in 2006, Grace DeGuia in
1998 and Colleen Hollowell in 1997.
Ninth-seeded Akron was eliminated
from the MAC Championship on Thursday afternoon, losing 4-1 to
eighth-seeded Northern Illinois in the first round of play at UB's
Ellicott Tennis Center.
2008 MAC Tennis Awards
First Team
Kerstin Pahl, Western Michigan
Anastasia Dracheva, Miami
Vanessa Frankowski, Eastern Michigan
Andreea Novaceanu, Buffalo
Brintney Larson, Miami
Kelsey Jakupcin, Bowling Green
Second Team
Martina Wodzinski, Toledo
Priyanka Parekh, Western Michigan
Denise Harijanto, Buffalo
Christine Chiricosta, Bowling Green
Noriko Saruta, Western Michigan
Tanyaradzwa Gombera, Akron
Player of the Year
Kerstin Pahl, Western Michigan
Freshman of the Year (tie)
Diana Popescu, Buffalo
Anastasia Dracheva, Miami
Coach of the Year
Betsy Kuhle, Western Michigan
Leann Grimes Sportsmanship Award (tie)
Tanyaradzwa Gombera, Akron
Kelly Douple, Miami
Noriko Saruta, Western Michigan
Players Mentioned
