UB Women's Tennis Wins MAC Honors

Twist Named Coach of the Year; Novaceanu, Nenova earn first-team All-MAC

Kathy Twist

BUFFALO, NY – Three members of the University at Buffalo women's tennis team earned hardware from the Mid-American Conference as the league announced its awards at the championship banquet prior to this weekend's tournament.

Head coach Kathy Twist was selected by her peers as the MAC Coach of the Year. Twist led the Bulls to a 14-4 overall record and a 6-2 league mark. The Bulls earned the second seed for this weekend's championship, the highest spot attained by a UB tennis team since joining the MAC in 1999. Twist is in her 10th year as head coach of the women's team and guided the Bulls to its second consecutive winning record, rising from sixth place in 2005 to second this season.

Two players, sophomore Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and junior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect), picked up first-team All-MAC honors.

Andreea Novaceanu

Novaceanu, a first-team selection and Freshman of the Year in 2005, makes her second appearance among the league's top six after a stellar campaign. Prior to this weekend's MAC Tournament, Novaceanu has compiled a 25-6 singles record, the most single-season victories in school history. During one stretch of the season, she won 11 consecutive matches, helping the Bulls to eight team victories. She also combined with Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) to form UB's top tandem and was 17-6 in doubles play. Novaceanu also earned MAC Player of the Week honors twice this season and was the only player to repeat as a first-team honoree in 2006.

Miglena Nenova

Nenova, selected to the second team in 2005 and the league's Freshman of the Year and a first team selection in 2004, is currently 17-8 in singles play, including a 7-0 mark from the number two slot. Nenova has won six straight singles matches to date. She's also 18-7 in doubles play this season, 7-2 with current partner Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) as UB's number two pair.

The Bulls open the MAC Championships on Friday afternoon against seventh-seeded Bowling Green, the last team to defeat UB prior to the Bulls' current six-match winning streak. The league champion gains the automatic berth in next month's NCAA Championships.

04/28/2006