BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. -- The Mountain East Conference today announced its annual women's tennis awards with West Virginia Wesleyan's Rebekka Heigermoser, West Virginia State's Laura Isbey and Yellow Jackets coach John Simms earning top honors.
Heigermoser is the MEC Freshman of the Year after going 7-2 this fall playing both No. 1 and No. 2 singles for the Bobcats. The native of Bavaria, Germany, posted key singles wins against Charleston and West Liberty, and suffered her only singles loss in conference play against Isbey. She also went 5-3 at No. 2 doubles.
Isbey, last year's conference Freshman of the Year, is this year's MEC Player of the Year after going undefeated at No. 1 singles this fall. The sophomore from Auckland, New Zealand, also went 4-2 at No. 1 doubles as the Yellow Jackets captured the conference regular season title.
Simms earns his fourth-consecutive Coach of the Year honors after leading the Yellow Jackets to another Mountain East Conference regular season championship. In fact, WVSU has yet to lose a conference match under Simms since the inception of the MEC in 2013. The Yellow Jackets finished conference play with a perfect 7-0 record and are the No. 1 seed at this weekend's MEC Tournament in Huntington, W.Va.
Underclassmen dominated the first team with three freshman, four sophomores and one senior making the team. The top three seeds in this week's MEC Tournament each had two players on the first team. WVSU was represented on the first team by Isbey and Kierstin Hensley, UC placed Elise Edwards and Kristine Gegeshide and West Virginia Wesleyan placed Rebekka Heigermoser and Paula Pimenta. Trinite' Klamadji (Fairmont State) and Rhiannon James (West Liberty) round out the first team.
Nine players comprise the second team including two more from West Virginia State and Charleston, along with two players from UVa-Wise and West Liberty and one from West Virginia Wesleyan.
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 |
| Elise Edwards |
Charleston |
So. |
Burlington, Ontario |
| Kristine Gegeshide |
Charleston |
Fr. |
Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Rebekka Heigermoser |
West Virginia Wesleyan |
Fr. |
Bavaria, Germany |
| Kierstin Hensley |
West Virginia State |
Fr. |
Ashland, Ky. |
| Laura Isbey |
West Virginia State |
So. |
Auckland, New Zealand |
| Rhiannon James |
West Liberty |
So. |
Dublin, Ohio |
| Trinite' Klamadji |
Fairmont State |
So. |
Niamey, Niger |
| Paula Pimenta |
West Virginia Wesleyan |
Sr. |
Londrina, Brazil |
|
|
|
|
| Second Team All-Mountain East Conference |
| Name |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
| Raquel Cabero Quiles |
West Liberty |
Sr. |
Madrid, Spain |
| Nina Dillwald |
West Virginia State |
Jr. |
Castrop-Rauxel, Germany |
| Laura Huwe |
West Liberty |
So. |
Frankfurt, Germany |
| Toni Katipa |
Charleston |
Jr. |
Rotorua, New Zealand |
| Cecilia Martinez |
West Virginia Wesleyan |
Fr. |
Albox, Almeria |
| Aya Melhem |
UVa-Wise |
Fr. |
Rockvale, Tenn. |
| Silvana Slusarciuc |
Charleston |
So. |
Timisoara, Romania |
| Daria Tyshchenko |
UVa-Wise |
Jr. |
Kirovograd, Ukraine |
| Marta Yevstakhevych |
West Virginia State |
Fr. |
Lviv, Ukraine |
Player of the Year: Laura Isbey (West Virginia State)
Freshman of the Year: Rebekka Heigermoser (West Virginia Wesleyan)
Coach of the Year: John Simms (West Virginia State)