WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After an impressive regular season, the William and Mary women's tennis team reaped the rewards at the Colonial Athletic Association's annual awards banquet at the Hospitality House in Williamsburg on Thursday night. The Tribe swept the major awards with junior
Maria Belaya garnering CAA Player of the Year honors, freshman
Leeza Nemchinov taking home the CAA Rookie of the Year accolade and head coach
Tyler Thomson being selected as the league Coach of the Year.
Along with the major awards, the Tribe placed five singles players on the All-CAA teams along with a pair of First-Team All-CAA doubles teams. In total, Green and Gold players represented five of the nine spots between singles and doubles on the All-CAA first team. Belaya, Nemchinov and senior
Anik Cepeda were First-Team All-CAA selections in singles, while juniors
Jeltje Loomans and
Hope Johnson garnered second and third-team honors, respectively. The Tribe team of Loomans and Belaya as well as the duo of Cepeda and Johnson garnered two of the three All-CAA first team spots for doubles.
Belaya becomes the 12th Tribe player on the 17th occasion to earn the league player of the year award, but the first since Megan Moulton-Levy won it for the fourth time in 2008. The Tribe junior enters the league championship as the only player in the conference ranked nationally in singles coming in at No. 116 in the standings released on Tuesday. Belaya owns a 19-11 overall mark, including 11 victories at the No. 1 position. She tallied a pair of top-75 wins during the season, including a win over the No. 37-ranked player in the country from Georgia State on her way to earning CAA Player of the Week honors. It marked the second straight season in which Belaya received first-team all-league honors in singles.
Nemchinov took home rookie of the year honors, giving W&M its first rookie honoree since 2007 and eighth overall. She posted a 22-11 mark during her freshman season, including a 16-4 dual-match ledger while playing toward the top of the Tribe lineup. Nemchinov won 12 of her final 14 matches and posted key singles triumphs during the Tribe's 4-3 wins over No. 19 Mississippi and No. 30 South Carolina.
In his first season at the helm of the Tribe program, Thomson oversaw a 10-match turnaround from last season as the Green and Gold posted a 15-5 dual-match record. The Tribe pulled out a pair of top-30 victories, upsetting No. 19 Mississippi, 4-3, on Jan. 22 and No. 30 South Carolina, 4-3, on Feb. 17. Thomson led the Tribe to a national ranking as high as No. 25 this season and a current standing of No. 49 in the country. It is his second career Coach of the Year honor as he won the award in the Big Ten with Minnesota in 2003.
Cepeda earned First-Team All-CAA honors in singles for the first time in her career after being a second-team choice in 2011. She topped the Tribe in victories this season, posing a 24-13 overall mark to go with a 16-4 dual-match ledger. Cepeda tallied important singles wins in the Tribe's 4-3 victories over No. 19 Mississippi, Virginia Tech, No. 30 South Carolina, Maryland and No. 58 Georgia State.
The Tribe placed two doubles teams on the All-CAA first team led by the duo of Belaya and Loomans. The pair, which is ranked No. 9 nationally and has spent most of the season in the top 10, garnered first-team honors for the second straight season after posting a 22-4 record, including a 13-3 dual-match mark. Belaya and Loomans tallied seven wins over teams currently ranked in the national top 45 and over their two seasons, the pair is 42-10.
Cepeda and Johnson tallied First-Team All-CAA honors in doubles for the second time as well. The duo earned a spot on the team in 2011 as well. Cepeda and Johnson own a four-match winning streak and have eight doubles wins of the year. The twosome posted a 6-2 ledger at the No. 2 doubles position and was named CAA Doubles Team of the Week this past week. It marks the fourth straight season in which Cepeda earned All-CAA honors in doubles and the third time as a first-team choice.
Loomans received the second All-CAA singles honor of her career after being named to the second team. She was a Third-Team All-CAA honoree as a freshman in 2011. This season, Loomans posted 11 victories, including 10 in dual-match play. She was a combined 9-4 at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions. The highlight victory of the season for the Tribe junior came against No. 19 Mississippi as she capped the Tribe's come-from-behind 4-3 win with a three-set victory at the No. 2 position.
Johnson was a Third-Team All-CAA singles selection, the first all-league singles honor of her career. She won a career-high 14 singles match, including nine in dual-match competition. Johnson provided vital wins in the Tribes' 4-3 triumphs over No. 19 Mississippi, UNCW, Maryland and No. 58 Georgia State.
The Tribe is the No. 1 seed in the 2013 CAA Championship, April 19-21, at the Millie West Tennis Facility in Williamsburg. The women's event gets underway with quarterfinal action on Friday, April 19, at 9 a.m. W&M will meet the winner of No. 4 Delaware and No. 5 Drexel in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 20. The CAA Championship match is slated for 10 a.m. on Sunday, April 21.
