BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. -- The Mountain East Conference today announced its annual women's tennis awards with the University of Charleston's Kristine Gegeshidze, UVa-Wise's Liza Akimenko and Golden Eagles head coach Shari Reed earning top honors.
Gegesdhidze, a junior from Tbilisi, Georgia, is the MEC Player of the Year after going 24-7 in singles during the 2018-19 season, including a 7-1 mark in MEC play. She won the ITA Atlantic Region title in singles and earned a spot in the singles draw at the ITA National Fall Championships. She also teamed with Katie Swann to win the ITA Atlantic Region title in doubles. She also cracked the national rankings in singles earlier this spring on her way to helping UC to a share of the MEC regular season title. She has a 3.85 grade-point average majoring in business administration.
Akimenko, a native of Donetsk, Ukraine, went 14-3 this season at No. 1 singles to earn Freshman of the Year honors. She went 7-1 in conference play with the lone loss coming to Gegeshidze. She also went 10-5 in doubles this year to help the Cavaliers finish 4-4 in conference play and qualify for the league tournament.
Reed is the MEC Coach of the Year for the first time since the league formed in the 2013-14 season. She helped the Golden Eagles to a share of the regular season crown and was the first MEC team to knock off cross-town rival West Virginia State in regular season play a few weeks ago. Reed helped lead UC to a 20-4 record and the Golden Eagles recently cracked the Oracle/ITA national rankings coming in at No. 49. Charleston is the top seed for this week's Mountain East Conference Tournament that gets underway tomorrow at the Brian David Fox Tennis Center in Huntington, W.Va.
Including Gegeshidze, six of the nine first team selections are repeat honorees in Elise Edwards (UC), Kierstin Hensley (WVSU), Laura Isbey (WVSU) Trinite' Klamadji (FSU) and Katie Swann (UC). Akimenko, West Virginia Wesleyan's Mariona Junyer and West Liberty's Raissa Wagner also earned first team honors. Six different teams had first team honorees with the University of Charleston recording a league-best three first team honorees and West Virginia State having two.
WVWC's Cecilia Martinez and Julia Yanes earned second team recognition, as did UVa-Wise's Katya Akimenko and Aya Milhelm. They were joined on the second team by Laura Herrera (NDC), Isadora Matos (FAIR) and Silvana Slusarciuc (UC).
The All-MEC teams and awards are selected by a vote of the league's coaches.
| First Team All-Mountain East Conference |
| Name (School) |
Cl. |
Hometown |
| Liza Akimenko (WISE) |
Fr. |
Donetsk, Ukraine |
| Elise Edwards (UC) |
Sr. |
Burlington, Ontario |
| Kristine Gegeshidze (UC) |
Jr. |
Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Kierstin Hensley (WVSU) |
Jr. |
Ashland, Ky. |
| Laura Isbey (WVSU) |
Sr. |
Auckland, New Zealand |
| Mariona Junyer (WVWC) |
Sr. |
Figueres, Spain |
| Trinite' Klamadji (FAIR) |
Sr. |
Niamey, Niger |
| Katie Swann (UC) |
So. |
Huntington, W.Va. |
| Raissa Wagner (WLU) |
Fr. |
Brasilia, Brazil |
| x |
|
|
| Second Team All-Mountain East Conference |
| Name |
Cl. |
Hometown |
| Katya Akimenko (WISE) |
Fr. |
Donetsk, Ukraine |
| Laura Herrera (NDC) |
Jr. |
Weston, Fla. |
| Cecilia Martinez (WVWC) |
Jr. |
Almeria, Spain |
| Isadora Matos (FAIR) |
So. |
Curitiba, Brazil |
| Aya Melhem (WISE) |
Jr. |
Murfreesboro, Tenn. |
| Silva Slusarciuc (UC) |
Sr. |
Timisoara, Romania |
| Julia Yanes (WVWC) |
So. |
Canary Islands, Spain |
Player of the Year: Kristine Gegeshidze (Charleston)
Freshman of the Year: Liza Akimenko (UVa-Wise)
Coach of the Year: Shari Reed (Charleston)