2012-13 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook | Page 22

Krtickova was named the 2013 PBC Tournament Singles MVP, while Krtickova and Filipovski were named the 2013 PBC Tournament Doubles MVP.

By virtue of the tournament title, Armstrong will now advance to the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championships on April 27-29 in an attempt to defend its 2012 national championship.

First Team Doubles Mona Blauen & Julia Graf, Francis Marion Paola Cigui & Carolin Weikard, Columbus State Barbora Krtickova & Aleksandra Filipovski, Armstrong

Second Team Doubles Kayla Barksdale & Katie Krupp, Georgia College Jane Plevako & Charlotte Dawson, Young Harris Marlen Hacke & Olga Kalodzitsa, Armstrong

First Team Singles Mona Blauen, Francis Marion Paola Cigui, Columbus State Aleksandra Filipovski, Armstrong Barbora Krtickova, Armstrong Clara Perez, Armstrong Jane Plevako, Young Harris Carolin Weikard, Columbus State

Second Team Singles Charlotte Dawson, Young Harris Marlen Hacke, Armstrong Olivera Jokic, Columbus State Olga Kalodzitsa, Armstrong Hannah Keeling, Clayton State Leigh Anne McAfee, UNC Pembroke

Player of the Year Paola Cigui, Columbus State

Freshman of the Year Lena Specht, Francis Marion

Coach of the Year Simon Earnshaw, Armstrong

Six PBC Women’ s Tennis Teams to Play in NCAA Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Six Peach Belt Conference women’ s tennis teams will continue their 2013 seasons as the NCAA released the tournament bracket from the national office in Indianapolis. Armstrong Atlantic State and Columbus State are the top two seeds in the tournament and will host four-team sub-regionals. Francis Marion is the third seed with Georgia College in fourth, Augusta State in fifth and Clayton State eighth. The women’ s tennis championships will begin this Sunday, April 28.

The Armstrong women’ s tennis team( 24-1), winners of four of the last five NCAA Division II National Championships, will begin defense of its title on Sunday, April 28, hosting eighth-seeded Clayton State( 10-11) at 10:00 a. m. at Bacon Park. The other matchup on Sunday will pit fourth-seeded Georgia College( 15-11) against fifth-seeded Augusta State( 16-8), also at 10:00 a. m.

The Lady Jaguars will be making their ninth postseason appearance in the last 14 seasons. Georgia College has now made the NCAA Regionals for the 19th consecutive year.

Columbus State University women’ s tennis team will look to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament as the Lady Cougars were an at-large selection to 2013 NCAA Tournament. It is the 12th straight season that Columbus State has reached the NCAA Tournament and the 17th time in program history. Last season, the Lady Cougars reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for just the second time in school history.

The Francis Marion women are in the NCAAs for the seventh time in eight years, and the 12th time in the past 19 years. FMU captured regional championships in 2008 and 2009, and lost to CSU in last year’ s regional title match. FMU beat Erskine 6-3 on Feb. 6 in Due West, S. C. The Patriots will be looking to tie the school record for wins in a season with their 23rd victory. The Flying Fleet recently captured their ninth consecutive Conference Carolinas championship.

Columbus State’ s Carolin Weikard Named Women’ s Tennis Elite 15 Winner

FLORENCE, SC – Columbus State senior women’ s tennis player Carolin Weikard was named the Peach Belt Conference’ s Women’ s Tennis Elite 15 Award winner during the league’ s annual tennis banquet on Thursday night in Florence, S. C. The award is sponsored by GradesFirst. The award is modeled on the NCAA’ s Elite 89 and honors the student-athletes competing in the championship event with the highest cumulative GPA. The 2012-13 academic year is the first of the award. The award is presented by GradesFirst.

Weikard has been a standout in the class and on the court. A senior business major, she carries a perfect 4.00 GPA. She was named a PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar in 2011-12.

On the court, she is the # 44 ranked singles player in the nation and partners with Paola Cigui for the 7th-ranked doubles team. She is 20-1 overall in singles play this season, 19-1 at # 2 doubles for the sixth-ranked Cougars.

She becomes the third Columbus State player to be named an Elite 15 Award winner this season, joining Nathan Reeves of men’ s cross country and Catherine Lovin for women’ s soccer.

The Peach Belt Conference will present an Elite 15 Award at each postseason event. Only student-athletes competing in the championship are eligible for consideration. Cross Country, golf and track & field are the only championships that allow every PBC team to compete, the rest allow only the top eight teams in the standings to participate.

GradesFirst provides the tools for athletic departments to monitor the academic performance of their student-athletes. The company is currently partnered with over 225 colleges and universities that range from small private schools to large public institutions.

ITA Names Eight PBC Women’ s Tennis Players All-American

SKILLMAN, NJ – Following a season that concluded with another national championship for the PBC, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association( ITA) has announced that eight league women’ s tennis players have been named All-Americans. Armstrong, who won their NCAA-leading eighth women’ s tennis title this season, led the nation with five players selected to the team. Columbus State was next with two while Francis Marion had one. The ITA awards All-American honors based on the final end of season rankings- the top 20 ranked singles players earn All-American singles honors, while the top 10 ranked doubles duos earn All-American doubles honors.

For Armstrong, Aleksandra Filipovski, Clara Perez, Marlen Hacke, Olga Kalodzitsa and Barbora Krtickova were named All-Americans. Columbus State’ s Paola Cigui and Carolin Weikard were also placed on the team as was Francis Marion’ s Mona Blauen.

Armstrong juniors Aleksandra Filipovski, Barbora Krtickova and Marlen Hacke each earned DII All-American singles and doubles honors in 2013, while sophomore Clara Perez earned All-American singles honors and junior Olga Kalodzitsa earned doubles honors. The five All-Americans for the Pirates are the most for any DII school in 2013.

For Krtickova, it is her third straight year in earning All-American honors in both singles and doubles, while Filipovski earns singles honors for a third straight year while earning doubles honors for a second straight year. Hacke earns her first All-American singles honor while earning doubles honors for a second season.

Perez claims her first All-American honor for the Pirates this year and Kalodzitsa takes her second straight doubles honor.

Cigui earns her second consecutive All-American honors as a singles and doubles player after finishing the year ranked second in the nation in singles action and fourth in doubles with Weikard. Despite finishing the season with a perfect 22-0 record and a head-to-head victory over Annie Hwang, Cigui dropped from the top spot in the national rankings while Hwang of BYU Hawaii climbed back up to finish the year ranked number one.

After finishing the season ranked second in the country, Cigui ends the year as the highest ranked Columbus State player( male or female) ever. She is also just the fourth Lady Cougar player to be ranked inside the top-five at season’ s end. The two-time reigning Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year, Cigui is now 45-0 in her career as a singles player at Columbus State. This season, she had a perfect 6-0 record against

Elite 15 Award Carolin Weikard, Columbus State

Honorable Mentions: Shelby Bickle, UNC Pembroke; Cayce Bradley, Lander; Charlotte Dawson, Young Harris; Martina Dedaj, Clayton State; Monica Espitia, UNC Pembroke; Julie Fontaine, Augusta State; Olivera Jokic, Columbus State; Caitlyn Lawrence, USC Aiken; Michelle Lingner, Georgia College; Ivana Marevic, Georgia College; Leigh- Anne McAfee, UNC Pembroke; Charlotte Moreau, Young Harris; Lissa Murakami, Augusta State; Lina Parra Pava, Young Harris; Franziska Regel, USC Aiken; Gabby Scammacca, Flagler; Margot Simon, USC Aiken; Meagan Stevens, Montevallo; Mia Winterbottom, UNC Pembroke

ranked opponents including wins against two top-10 foes.

In doubles, Cigui teamed up with Weikard to post a 22-3 record. All three losses came against top-10 opponents while the tandem also knocked off four ranked pairs.

Weikard also had a banner season for the Lady Cougars as she finished the year as the seventh ranked singles player in the nation earning All-American status. Weikard had an excellent senior campaign going 21-1 at the second spot. She lost just four sets the entire season and her lone loss came against the then-ranked second player in the nation.

Cigui and Weikard become the 11th and 12th All-American singles player in CSU history. In doubles, the duo is just the sixth All-American pair.

Blauen earns the national honor for her singles play. She previously garnered All-America recognition in 2012 for her doubles play.

A native of Cologne, Germany, Blauen was 17-5 in singles play at the No. 1 position and ended the season ranked 19th nationally among Division II singles players. She and sophomore Julia Graf were 12th in the national doubles rankings with a 21-5 mark.

A 2013 Capital One Academic All-District III At-Large Team selection, Blauen recently graduated with a bachelor of business administration degree( cum laude) in management. She earned both Peach Belt Conference All-Conference honors for her play on the court and PBC All-Academic Team recognition for her efforts in the classroom three times each.