April 19, 2007

FRISCO, Texas - Seven individuals and four pairs from UT Arlington's tennis squads earned All Southland Conference honors as announced by the league office on Thursday. Junior transfer Dmitry Minkin was named as Newcomer of the Year after posting a 17-5 overall record and a perfect 6-0 finish in conference matches.

For the women, senior Daniela Novakova earned her second First Team All-SLC nod, finishing the season with a 15-1 overall record and 9-1 conference record. Doubles partners senior Marissa Brown and freshman Sofya Lifanova earned an automatic first team selection after compiling a perfect 8-0 conference record.

Lifanova was also named to the Second Team All-SLC as the No. 4 single with a 14-2, 9-1 record. Joining Lifanova on the second team is senior Simri van Rooyen in the No. 3 slot who finished the regular season with a 13-3 overall record and went 9-1 in conference action. Van Rooyen paired up with fellow senior Monika Peciulionyte earned second team All-SLC honors in the No.1 doubles slot with a 14-2, 9-1 record on the season.

For the men, Minkin is joined on the First Team All-SLC by junior Alberto Agis who finished the season with a 11-10, 4-1 record. Agis and Minkin also earned First Team All-SLC Doubles honors in the No. 3 slot after finishing league play unbeaten.

Another UTA duo of senior Javier Herrera and Diego Matter finished conference action with a perfect 5-0 record for an automatic nod on the first team. Mattar finished his singles season 10-11 over all and 4-2 in league matches to be named to the All-SLC Second Team as the No. 1 single.

Freshman Gonzalo Bienzobas rounds out UTA's All-SLC nods as the No. 6 single on the second team. Bienzobas put together a 14-8, 5-1 rookie campaign for the Mavs.

Both teams are heading to San Antonio to compete in the 2007 Southland Conference Championship, which starts on Friday. The men earned a bye into the semifinal round as the second seed, while the women will open up the tournament as the No. 3 seed against the sixth seed, UTSA.

Women's Tennis
First Team Singles:
No. 1 - Emilija Arnaudovska, Southeastern La.
No. 2 - Daniela Novakova, UT Arlington
No. 3 - Breda Kovax, Southeastern La.
No. 4 - Jana Simurkova, Southeastern La.
No. 5 - Bonnie Phillips, Southeastern La.
No. 6 - Alejandra Gulido, Texas State

First Team Doubles:
No. 1 - Irina Sotnikova/Lata Assodani, Sam Houston State
No. 2 - Emilija Arnaudovska/Iva Velkovska, Southeastern La.
No. 3 - Marissa Brown/Sofya Lifanova, UT Arlington

Second Team Singles:
No. 1 - Irina Sotnikova, Sam Houston State
No. 2 - Iva Velkovska, Southeastern La.
No. 3 - Simri van Rooyen, UT Arlington
No. 4 - Sofya Lifanova, UT Arlington
No. 5 - Daniela Posada, Northwestern State
No. 6 - Nina Knavs, Southeastern La.

Second Team Doubles:
No. 1 - Monika Peciulianyte/Simri Van Rooyen, UT Arlington
No. 2 - Brooke Mills, Petra Taylor, Sam Houston State
No. 3 - Aleksandra Coric, Jana Simurkova, Southeastern La.

Player Of The Year: Emilija Arnaudovska, Southeastern La.
Freshman Of The Year: Kaltrina Harbuzi, Lamar
Newcomer Of The Year: Alejandra Gulida, Texas State
Coach Of The Year: Jason Hayes, Southeastern La.

Men's Tennis
First Team All-SLC Singles:
No. 1 - Andrey Kumantsou, A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 2 - Rodrigo Morgado, UTSA
No. 3 - Alberto Agis, UT Arlington
No. 4 - Julien Lousao, Southeastern La.
No. 5 - Dmitry Minkin, UT Arlington
No. 6 - Adam Becker, UTSA

First Team Doubles:
No. 1 - Andrey Kumantsov/Dimitry Novikov, A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 2 - Javier Herrera/Diego Mattar, UT Arlington
No. 3 - Alberto Agis/Dmitry Minkin, UT Arlington

Second Team All-SLC Singles:
No. 1 - Diego Mattar, UT Arlington
No. 2 - Raul Morant-Rivas, A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 3 - Dmitry Novikov, A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 4 - David Wanja, Lamar
No. 5 - Nate Avila, UTSA
No. 6 - Gonzalo Bienzobas, UT Arlington

Second Team Doubles:
No. 1 - Oondrej Krivka/Mattriew Leboucher, Southeastern La.
No. 2 - Jose Yecaza, Jose Zunino, A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 3 - Mario Janjic, Andres Modina, Lamar

Player Of The Year: Andrey Kumantsov, A&M-Corpus Christi
Freshman Of The Year: Rodrigo Morgado, UTSA
Newcomer Of The Year: Dmitry Minkin, UT Arlington
Coach Of The Year: Steve Moore, A&M-Corpus Christi