The University of Akron Athletics
Tennis Athletes Earn All-MAC, Player of the Year Honors
April 24 | Women's Tennis
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – University of Akron
freshman tennis student-athlete Zara
Harutyunyan (Yerevan, Armenia/Yerevan Secondary School No. 134)
was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and All-MAC
First Team, while Zips sophomore Anna
Baronayte (St. Petersburg, Russia/Arystos Lyceum/West Virginia
State/St. Petersburg State) was selected to the All-MAC Second
Team, the conference office announced on Thursday. The league's
nine head coaches voted on the all-conference team and specialty
awards.
Harutyunyan is the first-ever Zips tennis player to earn the
league's player-of-the-year award and the first UA athlete to earn
first-team recognition since Irina Strembitsky was honored as such
in 2004 (Strembitsky was also named first team in 2003 and was on
the second team in 2002). Thursday also marked the first time a
freshman has earned the MAC's player of the year award and it was
the first time the UA tennis program has had two athletes named
All-MAC in the same season. The pair were officially honored
tonight at a banquet held in conjunction with the MAC Championship
at Bowling Green State University. Sixth-seeded Akron (15-7, 4-4
MAC) will face third-seeded Western Michigan (19-7, 6-2 MAC) in
Friday's quarterfinal round at 2 p.m. EDT at Keefe Courts on the
BGSU campus. In regular-season action on April 11 in Akron, then
70th-ranked Western Michigan defeated the Zips 4-3.
Harutyunyan finished regular-season MAC play with a 7-1 No. 1
singles mark and is 20-1 against dual-match singles competition
this season (37-4 overall in singles). In doubles competition, she
is 6-2 against MAC opposition (33-6 overall in doubles). Her 70
combined singles and doubles wins far surpassed the school's
single-season record of 54 (set by Mendy McMurtry in 1990-91).
Twice named MAC Player of the Week this season (on Jan. 22 and Feb.
25), Harutyunyan received the program's highest-ever national
(85th) and regional ranking (11th in Midwest) by the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in January, and advanced
to the main draw round of 16 in the ITA Midwest regional in
October.
"I'm really proud of Zara for having earned player of the year
honors," third-year Akron head coach Jeffrey
Wyshner said. "Her performance from our first tournament in
September through the end of the regular season was incredible. Her
win total this season proves not only what an incredibly gifted
player she is, but also what a fierce competitor she is. She hates
to even lose a two-minute drill in practice, and that
competitiveness helped her to be the top player in the conference
this year and is helping her in her quest to be recognized as one
of the top players in the country. All the more amazing is that she
has been so successful as a freshman, when so much was new to
her."
Baronayte, who teams with Harutyunyan to make up the squad's No. 1
doubles pair, competes at the No. 2 singles position and is 17-5 in
dual-match singles play this season (5-3 against the MAC and 28-16
overall). She is 32-7 overall in doubles in 2008-09. Named MAC
Player of the Week on April 15, Baronayte was the first UA player
to advance through qualifying play and into the main draw of
singles at the ITA Midwest regional in October.
"It is very exciting to see all of Anna's hardwork pay off,"
Wyshner said. "In the fall, she set the goal of getting to the ITA
regional, and she ended up making it through the qualifying round
and into the main draw. This spring, she set her sights on being
named All-MAC and she worked hard enough to achieve that also."
This marks the second-consecutive season that an Akron tennis
player has been named to the all-conference squad. In 2008, Tanyaradzwa Gombera was a second-team pick and
also earned the Leann Grimes Davidge Sportsmanship Award. Counting
today's honorees, nine Zips all-time have been named to the All-MAC
Team (five to the first team, four to the second team). UA started
competing in the MAC in 1992-93.
Thursday's list of UA award winners added to a growing number of
milestone achievements this season – all part of the
resurgence of the program under Wyshner. Akron wrapped up the
regular season with a winning record for the first time since the
1995-96 squad finished 12-9, and the Zips' four MAC victories are
the most in team history (program went 3-3 in 1992-93 and 3-6 in
1998-99 in MAC play). UA also earned a bye out of the league
championship's opening round for the first time since the event
went to its current format in 2000, and the squad strives for its
first-ever MAC tournament victory this weekend.
The Zips finished the regular season in a tie with Toledo (13-9,
4-4 MAC) for fifth place in the league standings – one
position better than the spot in which the program was picked to
finish in a preseason poll of the conference's head coaches, and
four positions higher than the squad has finished in each of the
last two seasons. Due to Toledo's 5-2 win over Akron on March 20,
the Rockets earned the No. 5 seed in the conference
championship.
In the event of inclement weather, this weekend's matches will be
moved indoors to Perrysburg Tennis Center. Click on the
championship central link at the top of this article for more
information.
2009 All-Mid-American Conference Women's Tennis
Awards
First Team
Zara Harutyunyan, Akron
Denise Harijanto, Buffalo
Monica Gorny, Miami
Anastasia Dracheva, Miami
Maha Guirguis, Toledo
Kerstin Pahl, Western Michigan
Second Team
Anna Baronayte, Akron
Christine Chiricosta, Bowling Green
Kelsey Jakupcin, Bowling Green
Smaranda Stan, Buffalo
Diana Popescu, Buffalo
Emily Dudzik, Western Michigan
Coach of the Year: Howard Joffe, Miami
Player of the Year: Zara
Harutyunyan, Akron
Freshman of the Year: Monica Gorny, Miami
Leann Grimes Davidge Sportsmanship Award: Ashley
Moccia, Western Michigan
Players Mentioned
