April 22, 2011

COMPLETE RELEASE

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – For the second straight year senior Hailee Elmore of Saint Louis has been named the Atlantic 10 Conference’s women’s tennis Most Outstanding Performer, in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches.

In the same vote, fellow Billiken Stephanie Hollis was tabbed the Most Outstanding Rookie Performer, while Mark Wesselink of Richmond garnered his sixth career A-10 Coach of the Year citation. Elmore also earned Student-Athlete of the Year honors in a separate vote of the Conference’s sports information directors.

Elmore registered an impressive 22-6 overall record at No. 1 singles, including a 13-4 mark in dual matches. The Springfield, Ill., native led the Billikens to the program’s first appearance in the A-10 Championship finals, which included wins over La Salle, Duquesne and Temple. During her final season in St. Louis, Elmore became the institution’s all-time career singles (93) and doubles (74) wins leader. The three-time All-Conference award recipient has also been named to the league’s Academic All-Conference team on three separate occasions and owns a 3.935 cumulative grade point average as a Communication Sciences and Disorders major.

Joining Elmore on the 12-person All-Conference first-team is teammate Jenny Nalepa; Charlotte’s Alexandra Zinn; Dayton’s Claire Dreyer; Ana Mungo of Duquesne; Jacqueline Corba of George Washington; Yuliana Motyl of Massachusetts; Richmond’s Helen Cunningham and Joanna Matuszczyk; Theresa Stangl and Elyse Steiner of Temple; and Xavier’s Katie Pleiman.

The All-Conference second-team consists of Charlotte’s Andrea Rivera; Megan O’Sullivan of Duquesne; Fordham’s Mia Fiocca; George Washington teammates Leah Pascarella and Julia Blakeley; Julia Comas of Massachusetts; Rhode Island’s Pam Emery; Richmond’s Kelly Tidwell; Casey Robinson of Saint Joseph’s Casey Miller of Saint Louis; Temple’s Yana Mavrina; and Andrea Wolf of Xavier.

Hollis posted an outstanding 26-4 overall record at No. 4 singles this past year, including a 10-2 mark in dual matches. The Rocky River, Ohio native went 6-0 against Atlantic 10 foes during the regular season, recording straight-set wins over her counterparts at Richmond, Xavier, Temple, Duquesne, La Salle and Dayton. During the fall, Hollis reached the Round of 16 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Championships, hosted by the University of Arkansas (Oct. 21-24).

In addition to Elmore, Miller, Mungo and Tidwell, along with Kaitlyn Carpenter of Massachusetts and Rhode Island’s Kirsten Leikem were named to the Academic All-Conference squad.

Now in his 20th season as the head coach of Richmond, Wesselink led the program to its third straight A-10 Women’s Tennis Championship crown and its seventh title in eight seasons with convincing wins over Charlotte (4-0), George Washington (4-0) and Saint Louis (4-1). A six-time A-10 Coach of the Year, Wesselink has guided the Spiders to 17 winning seasons and 10 NCAA Championship appearances in the last 14 years.