Women's Tennis | 11/7/2019 2:48:00 PM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Fresh off its first-ever conference championship, the St. John Fisher College women's tennis team continued to roll as the Cardinals swept all three major postseason awards as announced by the Empire 8 on Thursday. Head coach
Linda Gohagan was named the Coach of the Year while senior
Kaili Saffran was named the conference's Player of the Year. Newcomer
Cydney Bell also received high praise as the freshman was named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year.
In all, Fisher had seven All-Conference selections with Saffran being named First-Team All-Conference in singles play and again in doubles action alongside
Cassidy Bell. Bell would go on to be named Second-Team All-Empire 8 in singles play along with her sister, Cydney. The Cardinals had two more tandems named All-Conference as well with
Mikayla Santulli and
Zuzanna Pociecha being named Second-Team All-Conference while
Valerie Morgans and
Jacqueline Chouinard were tabbed Honorable Mention All-Empire 8.
Gohagan was selected as the Coach of the Year for the second time in her career after being tabbed for the same honor in 2002. Under her direction, the Cardinals earned the top overall seed in the four-team Empire 8 Championship courtesy of an unblemished 6-0 mark in conference play. Her squad was a force to be reckoned with in conference play after winning 30-of-36 singles matches and 15-of-18 matches in doubles competition during the regular season en route to claiming the program's first-ever Empire 8 Championship and berth into the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
Now a three-time First-Team All-Conference selection in singles play, Saffran was unmatched in the Empire 8 this season as the Webster native did not lose all season. Overall, including postseason play, Saffran went 10-0 and was a driving force behind the Cardinals' title chase all season. The Webster Thomas graduate, who was named the conference's Player of the Week once this year, was named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in 2017 and is the first Empire 8 Player of the Year in the Cardinals' history.
Saffran joined Cas. Bell as First-Team All-Conference winners after the pair posted a 6-2 mark in conference doubles play over the course of the 2019 season. Bell, who was named Honorable Mention in each of the last two seasons, would go on to be named Second-Team All-Conference in singles competition after holding a 7-4 overall record including a 4-2 mark against Empire 8 opponents.
Cy. Bell, who became just the second Cardinal in program history to win Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, earned a spot on the Second-Team after compiling a 5-1 record in conference play. The freshman would win six matches overall this season and finished the year having won three consecutive outings.
Santulli, who was named Second-Team All-Conference in singles play last year and was tabbed the Empire 8 Championship's Most Valuable Player in October, joined Pociecha as a Second-Team All-Conference honoree as the duo closed out the 2019 campaign at 4-1 in doubles play with four straight victories.
Morgans and Chouinard were selected as Honorable Mention All-Empire 8 after the pair won six of eight doubles matches this year including 4-of-5 against Empire 8 opposition.
Finally, Pociecha was also named one of the Conference's Sportswoman of the Year as she "competes with honor and integrity," which is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves as consistently exhibiting these critical traits as outstanding sportsmen and sportswomen.
The Cardinals are set to return to action in early March when they travel to Hilton Head, S.C. for their annual spring break trip. From there, the team will compete in the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship is St. Louis, Mo. in May 2020.
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