Ganeva and Antunovic Take BIG EAST Championship Honors
4/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S TENNIS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -Â Senior Gergana Ganeva and junior Dunja Antunovic of the No. 65 DePaul women's tennis team were named to the 2008 BIG EAST Conference All-Tournament team. Both Blue Demons are among 10 players recognized for outstanding singles play at last weekend's BIG EAST Championship in Tampa, Florida.
Ganeva and Antunovic helped No. 5 seed DePaul earn fourth-place honors as they finished the tournament with three singles wins apiece. Antunovic held down the No. 1 spot for the Blue Demons, where she defeated Stephanie Cohen of Georgetown, Lauren Little of Marquette, and Louisville's Lauren Imre. Ganeva spent the tournament in the No. 2 match, where she topped Courtney Olsen of Georgetown, Erin Watkins of Marquette and Lindsey Jones of Louisville.
Ganeva suffered her only loss of the tournament on Saturday when DePaul fell to Notre Dame in the semifinal dual. The Blue Demon senior took a 6-4, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Brook Buck, the 89th ranked singles player in the nation. Antunovic trailed No. 44 Kelcy Tefft, 6-4, 5-3, in the top match when the Irish clinched the dual.
DePaul's 2007-08 campaign saw Antunovic post an overall singles record of 21-15 with 13 dual victories in the No. 1 match. Ganeva notched a singles record of 24-11 with 16 dual-season wins in the No. 2 slot.
Ganeva collected 99 singles victories in her DePaul career with an additional 92 doubles wins. Her win total of 191 is the highest of any player in Blue Demon history.
Under the guidance of head coach Mark Ardizzone, the 2007-08 Blue Demons posted a dual record of 18-8 with a 7-4 performance against BIG EAST opponents. DePaul spent the entire dual season in the ITA top-75 poll, reaching a program-best national ranking of No. 51 on March 4.
Notre Dame won the 2008 BIG EAST Championship on Sunday with a 4-1 victory over USF in the title match. The Irish swept the top honors as Tefft was named Most Outstanding Player and Jay Louderback was honored as Coach of the Year.
BIG EAST Women's Tennis Most Outstanding Player
Kelcy Tefft, Notre Dame
BIG EAST Women's Tennis Coach of the Year
Jay Louderback, Notre Dame
All-BIG EAST Singles Team
Dunja Antunovic, DePaul, Jr.
Janette Bejlkova, USF, Fr.
Brook Buck, Notre Dame, Sr.
Katrina Elder-Bush, Rutgers, Sr.
Cosmina Ciobanu, Notre Dame, So.
Liz Cruz, USF, Sr.
Gergana Ganeva, DePaul, Sr.
Colleen Rielley, Notre Dame, So.
Kelcy Tefft, Notre Dame, Jr.
Jessica Zok, USF, So.
All-BIG EAST Doubles Team
Brook Buck/Kelcy Tefft, Notre Dame
Janette Bejlkova/Iciri Rai, USF
Natalia Baez, Bianca Gorbea, Louisville
Cosmina Ciobanu/Colleen Rielley, Notre Dame
Kali Krisik/Kristen Rafael, Notre Dame