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 Dina Senkina, Temple |
April 30, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Temple junior Dina Senkina has been named the Atlantic 10 women's tennis Most Outstanding Performer in voting conducted among the Conference's head coaches following the Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship.
In that same vote, Zena Williams of Duquesne was named Most Outstanding Rookie Performer and Temple head coach Jill Breslin was tabbed as Coach of the Year. Dayton's Allysa Detroy was selected as the Student-Athlete of the Year in a separate vote of the Conference's sports information directors.
At first singles and second doubles, Senkina helped lead the Owls to their first title in five years at the 2008 Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship, held Apr. 18-20 at the Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa. Senkina, who hails from Moscow, Russia, went undefeated during the Championship with a 1-0 record in singles and 3-0 record in doubles matches. At first singles, she garnered a 6-3, 6-3 win against Pamela Duran of Richmond in the semifinals. In doubles, Senkina teamed with fellow first-team All-Conference selection Elyse Steiner to earn victories over Charlotte (8-3), Richmond (8-4) and Xavier (8-1).
Williams, a native of Bellaire, Texas, finished 1-0 at first singles while also posting a 3-0 second doubles record at the A-10 Championship. Williams picked up her singles victory against Xavier (6-4, 6-1). She partnered with junior teammate Rebecca Poole, a member of the All-Conference second-team, to register doubles matches victories against Saint Joseph's (8-2), Xavier (8-2) and Saint Louis (8-5).
Joining Senkina and Williams on the All-Conference first-team are Candynce Boney and Masha Pozar of Massachusetts; Richmond's Erin Clark and Pamela Duran; Kara Courtney of Xavier; Amanda Hellberg of Saint Louis; Temple's Lucie Pazderova and Elyse Steiner; and Yudeshnee Pillay and Ana Spivakovsky of Charlotte. For Senkina, it is the second year in a row she has been named to the All-Conference first-team. In addition, Pozar is on the first-team for the fourth straight year, while Duran is being honored for the third time.
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The All-Conference second-team consists of Johanna Bezjak and Rebecca Poole of Duquesne; Temple's Christine Clermont and Anastasiia Rukaayshykova; Jill Ducro and Tifanie Treece of Xavier; George Washington's Nadia Demidenko; Hailee Elmore of Saint Louis; Charlotte's Koren Fleming; Dominique Liguori of Fordham; Rhode Island's Nyssa Peele; and Kelly Tidwell and Ashlee Vosters of Richmond.
Detroy earned Student-Athlete of the Year honors after finishing the season with a combined seventeen victories. The senior from Evansville, Ind., was named A-10 Player of the Week on Mar. 10. It marks the second straight season she has been named to the Academic All-Conference team.
She is joined on the Academic All-Conference team by Bezjak, Pozar and Spivakovsky, as well as Grace Hedstrom of Rhode Island, Lauren Kuhmerker of Saint Joseph's, and UD teammate Megan Gray.
Breslin earns her first Coach of the Year award for leading the Temple to its fourth-ever A-10 title. The Championship's second seed, Temple registered wins over Charlotte (4-0), Richmond (4-1) and Xavier (4-0) en route to capturing the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
