May 1, 2007

Women's Tennis All-Conference Team

PHILADELPHIA, Pa - Richmond sophomore Pamela Duran has been named the Atlantic 10's 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, Ana Spivakovsky of Charlotte was named Most Outstanding Rookie Performer and Richmond head coach Mark Wesselink was tabbed as Coach of the Year for the fourth straight time. Massachusetts' Michele Spiess 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, Duran helped lead the Spiders to their fourth consecutive title at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship, held Apr. 20-22 at the Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa. Duran, who hails from Guayaquil, Ecuador, went 1-1 in singles play and 1-0 in doubles matches. At first singles, she garnered a 6-2, 6-3 win in the final match against fellow first-team All-Conference selection Yuri Kurashima of Temple. She also dropped a 7-5, 7-5 match to Spivakovsky. In the only doubles match she played to completion, she teamed with second-team All-Conference selection Ashlee Vosters to earn an 8-4 win against Charlotte.

Spivakovsky was a primary reason for the 49ers placing third in the A-10 Championship. The native of Beer-Sheva, Israel, was a perfect 4-0 at first singles while also posting a 2-1 first doubles record. Spivakovsky picked up singles wins against La Salle (6-0, 6-1), Duquesne (6-3, 6-0), Duran of Richmond (7-5, 7-5), and Spiess of Massachusetts (6-3, 6-3). In doubles matches, she and Ali Piacente, a member of the A-10 All-Conference second-team, earned wins against La Salle (8-0) and Massachusetts (8-5) along with an 8-2 loss to Duquesne.

Joining Duran and Spivakovsky on the All-Conference first-team are Richmond's Robin Carter and Beatrice Grasu; Jacqueline Hughes of Duquesne; Temple's Yuri Kurashima and Dina Senkina; Dominique Liguori of Fordham; Rhode Island's Lara Maurer; Masha Pozar and Michele Spiess of UMass; and Jackie Vilines of Xavier. Carter, Pozar, and Spiess are on the All-Conference first-team for the third straight year, while Duran, Grasu, Hughes, and Kurashima are honored for the second time.

The All-Conference second-team consists of Johanna Bezjak and Rebecca Poole of Duquesne; Xavier's Kara Courtney; Ellenoira Featherstone of Fordham; Katerina Lozanova and Ana Renda of Saint Louis; Rhode Island's Nyssa Peele; Ali Piacente and Kathy Robey of Charlotte; George Washington's Kendall Swenson; Stephania Velazquez of Saint Joseph`s; and Richmond's Ashlee Vosters.

Spiess, who was named to the All-Conference first-team for the third straight year, earns Student-Athlete of the Year honors. The senior from Stuttgart, Germany, finished the season with a 19-9 singles record and 22-11 doubles record. The three-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week broke the UMass singles wins record of 63. Last season, Spiess was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete and was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District At-Large second-team pick. She holds a 3.83 grade point average as a hotel and tourism management major.

She is joined on the Academic All-Conference team by Piacente and Pozar, as well as Allysa Detroy of Dayton, Rhode Island's Grace Hedstrom, and Doina Sandor of Fordham.

Wesselink earns his fifth Coach of the Year award and fourth in a row for leading the Spiders to their fourth consecutive A-10 title. The Championship's second seed, Richmond managed wins over Saint Louis (4-0), Charlotte (4-1), and Temple (4-0) en route to the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Currently in his 16th season at Richmond, the 1981 graduate of Northwest Missouri State has over 200 career wins.