UB Women's Tennis Players Win MAC Accolades

Nenova, Novaceanu, Harijanto named All-MAC, Fischer wins sportsmanship award

Katrin Fischer

BUFFALO, NY - ­After completing the regular season with a 15-2 overall record and a 6-1 mark in league play, the Mid-American Conference took notice of the University at Buffalo women's tennis team's outstanding season in handing out it's yearly awards on Thursday evening. The announcements were made at the MAC Tournament banquet in Toledo.

Four UB players earned recognition from the league with three being named to the All-MAC squads and one being selected for the conference's sportsmanship award.

Miglena Nenova

Senior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) was named first-team All-MAC for the third time in her career (2004, 2006, 2007) and completed the sweep of earning league recognition for all four seasons of her career at UB. Junior Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) was selected to the second-team All-MAC squad after earning first-team All-MAC in 2005 and 2006 while freshman Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) garnered her first selection with a spot on the All-MAC Second Team .

Senior Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) was named the league's recipient of the LeAnn Grimes Davidge Sportsmanship Award.

Nenova, UB's all-time leader in singles and doubles victories, has posted a 17-6 singles and 22-7 doubles record this season as the Bulls head into postseason competition this weekend. In her four years with the program, Nenova has collected 67 singles and 73 doubles victories. Nenova is 9-3 when playing in the first singles slot this season and was twice named the MAC's Player of the Week. Besides her three selections to the All-MAC First Team, Nenova was a second-team All-MAC honoree in 2005 and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2004.

Andreea Novaceanu

Novaceanu has made the All-MAC team in all three of her seasons in Buffalo. She missed much of the early dual-meet season this spring due to an ankle injury but recovered to solidify UB's lineup in the number three singles spot where she posted a 6-2 record and is currently 15-4 for the season. In doubles play this season, she is 12-3 with an 8-1 dual-meet mark with Harijanto to form UB's number one doubles team. Novaceanu was a first-team All-MAC selection in 2005 and 2006 and also garnered the league's Freshman of the Year award in 2005.

Harijanto has quickly made her presence felt on the UB courts with a 19-8 singles record and 23-6 doubles mark in her freshman campaign. Harijanto saw action at the number one spot in the early spring, posting a 4-1 record, but has spent much of the season at second singles where she went 5-3 against MAC competition. She leads the Bulls in doubles wins this season with 14 wins partnered with Nenova and eight with Novaceanu.

Fischer beomes UB's first LeAnn Grimes Davidge Sportmanship Award recipient. Fischer is currently UB's hottest player as the Bulls enter the postseason. Fischer moved back into the singles lineup at the number six slot and finished the regular season undefeated against league competition with a 6-0 record. She is 17-4 in singles and 13-6 in doubles this season. Fischer has won her last eight singles matches and four doubles contests with partner Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC).

Denise Harijanto

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 Miamiıs womenıs tennis coach from 1978 until her tragic death in an automobile accident in January 1985. During her years as head coach, Miami won three outright MAC championships and shared another. She was chosen as the MAC Coach of the Year by her peers in 1981 and 1983.

Eastern Michigan's Vanessa Frankowski was named the league's Player of the Year while Toledo's Martina Wodzinski earned Freshman of the Year honors. Western Michigan mentor Betsy Kuhle was selected as the Coach of the Year. UB head coach Kathy Twist earned the award last sesason.

The Bulls reached the championship match of the MAC Tournament for the first time in their history last season, falling to Western Michigan. UB is the second seed in this season's tournament and they open play with a second-round match on Friday against Ball State at 2:00 pm in Toledo.

04/26/2007