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Somerset, NJ -- After playing lights out tennis in leading Bryant to its first NEC Championship earlier this month, sophomore Ryan Brown (Austin, TX/Lake Travis) was chosen as the 2015 Northeast Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year in a vote of league head coaches.  Brown wasn’t the only Bulldog to take home a major award as teammate Ashanti Campfield (Stratford, CT/Bunnell) was named NEC Rookie of the Year.  Bryant head coach Barbara Cilli, who guided the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament, was tabbed NEC Coach of the Year.
 
Brown, a first team All-NEC honoree at the #2 flight as a freshman, stepped into the #1 slot this year for the Bulldogs and came up big when it counted most.  She won all three of her NEC Tournament matches in straight sets, dropping just 14 games in the process, including a 6-2, 6-1 win over 2014 NEC Player of the Year Sanne Louwers of LIU Brooklyn in the title tilt.  Brown heads into NCAA Tournament play with an 11-10 mark, including 9-7 at the #1 flight.  The two-time NEC Player of the Week wrapped the year 4-2 versus NEC opposition.  The Austin, TX native also earned second team All-NEC plaudits at #1 doubles for the second straight year.  Brown joins Claudia Hidalgo as Bryant student-athletes who have claimed the NEC Player of the Year award.
 
Campfield stepped right into Bryant’s rotation upon her arrival in Smithfield, first at the #6 flight before settling in at the #5 position for the team’s stretch run in April.  She found immediate success, winning the NEC Rookie of the Month award in September after winning four of her six singles matches.  Campfield would go on to claim NEC Rookie of the Week honors on April 7, peaking just in time for the NEC Tournament where she won a pair matches.  The Stratford, CT product has compiled a 12-4 overall record, including a 4-1 mark at #5 singles and a perfect 5-0 ledger against conference opponents.  She also took home first team All-NEC honors at #2 doubles along with Rosie Bird.  Campfield is the first Bryant player to be named NEC Rookie of the Year.
 
The Bryant program has steadily grown under Cilli’s leadership, culminating with the team’s first NEC Championship earlier this month.  The Bulldogs, who reached the NEC semifinals in 2014, posted a 5-1 mark in league play this spring.  Bryant rolled through the NEC Tournament, dropping just one match along the way, highlighted by a 4-0 win over LIU Brooklyn in the final.  Cilli and the Bulldogs now head to the NCAA Tournament next month with a 9-7 overall record.  All three doubles teams and five-of-six singles players earned All-NEC recognition for Bryant this season.  Cilli now holds the distinction of being Bryant’s first-ever NEC Coach of the Year winner.
 
Brown and Campfield were joined by teammate Rosie Bird (Hamilton, New Zealand/Hillcrest) (#6 singles) on the All-NEC first team.  FDU was recognized at the #3 and #4 spots with junior Gisela Castany (Barcelona, Spain) and senior Mariya Krachok (Kiev, Ukraine/Secondary School #50), respectively.  LIU Brooklyn sophomore Marine Dans (Waterloo, Belgium/Institu de Mot Couvreur) rounded out the first team at #2 singles.
 
Dans was a first team NEC all-star as a freshman competing at the #3 flight, and was terrific again this past season at the #2 spot for LIU Brooklyn.  Dans leads the NEC with 21 victories and has won 77.8 percent of her matches, also best in the conference.  The Waterloo, Belgium native won all seven of her NEC matches, posted an astounding 14-2 mark at the #2 flight and ended the year on a nine-match win streak.  In two years, Dans has compiled a 35-7 singles record and is 12-0 versus NEC competition.
 
Castany makes it back-to-back All-NEC first team honors.  A year after being recognized at the #4 flight, Castany was elevated to #3 singles this season and didn’t miss a beat for the Knights.  She finished the season with a 5-1 mark in NEC play and her nine wins at the #3 spot tied for most in the league.  Castany won a pair of NEC Tournament matches to finish 11-8 on the year.
 
Krachok’s second consecutive All-NEC first team award comes for her work at the #4 spot, a year after being voted in at the #5 position.  Krachok was unbeatable for the second straight year in NEC play.  She finished a perfect 6-0 to lift her two-year conference mark to 12-0.  She ended her senior campaign with a 12-4 overall record, pushing her career mark at FDU to an impressive 32-13 in two seasons.  Krachok was named the March NEC Player of the Month.
 
With this first team honor at the #6 flight, Bird bookended her career with All-NEC singles accolades.  A second team All-NEC pick back in her freshman season, Bird won both her conference matches this spring, including a resounding 6-1, 6-0 victory over LIU Brooklyn to help lead Bryant to its first NEC championship. 
 
Bryant claimed two of the three first team All-NEC doubles awards.  Freshman Ashanti Campfield (Stratford, CT/Bunnell) and senior Rosie Bird (Hamilton, New Zealand/Hillcrest) collected #2 flight honors, while sophomore Briana Leonard (Westford, MA/Bishop Guertin) and freshman Linnea Sjoberg (Stockholms Ian, Sweden) were voted in at #3 doubles.  The LIU Brooklyn team of senior Sanne Louwers (Nuenen, Netherlands/Mgr. Cuytenlaan) and sophomore Marine Dans (Waterloo, Belgium/Institu de Mot Couvreur) were tabbed at the #1 flight.
 
Louwers and Dans saved their best tennis for down the stretch, winning their last six matches for the Blackbirds, who advanced to their second straight NEC title match.  The duo finished 10-4, and were 8-2 in #1 flight play and 6-0 against league opponents.  This is the third All-NEC doubles honor for Louwers and second for Dans.
 
Bird and Campfield first teamed up in early April and proved to be a winning combination for the NEC champion Bulldogs.  The duo won three-of-four matches and were 3-0 against NEC tandems.  In the NEC Tournament, Bird and Campfield won a pair of matches, dropping a combined two games in the victories.  Bird previously earned second team All-NEC doubles recognition as a freshman and junior.
 
Leonard and Sjoberg paired up down the stretch for Bryant and did not taste defeat.  The two underclassmen won both their NEC matches and secured an 8-3 win the NEC final against LIU Brooklyn.
 
Bryant and Saint Francis U each landed a pair of honorees on the All-NEC singles second team.  The Bulldogs were represented at the #2 and #3 positions by Marion Bouillin (San Diego, CA/Torrey Pines) and freshman Linnea Sjoberg (Stockholms Ian, Sweden), respectively.  Saint Francis U sophomore Brittini Jentz (Plano, TX/Ursuline Academy of Dallas) was voted in at the #4 flight and junior Dani Gryckiewicz (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Academy) was the pick at the #6 position.  Sacred Heart junior Katie DeRienzo (Douglaston, NY/St. Francis Prep) was recognized at #1 singles and LIU Brooklyn senior Nancy Zonneveld (Frankfurt, Germany/European School) took home #6 singles honors.
 
DeRienzo’s stellar junior campaign included an NEC Player of the Month accolade in March, followed by a pair of NEC Player of the Week awards in April.  She closed out her season with a 19-6 overall record and 11-3 mark in #1 flight play.  The Douglaston, NY product won nine straight matches at one point and went 4-1 against conference opponents.  DeRienzo has now won 55 singles matches over her first three years at Sacred Heart and has compiled a 24-9 record at the #1 spot.
 
Bouillin was at her best down at pivotal moments for Bryant, winning six of her last seven matches, including two straight set victories in the NEC Tournament.  She posted a 4-1 record against NEC competitors and an 8-7 ledger at the #2 flight.
 
Part of a talented freshman class at Bryant, Sjoberg was tabbed the NEC Rookie of the Month this past March.  She ended her rookie season with a 3-2 conference record and won two #3 flight matches at the NEC Tournament, including a 6-2, 6-1 triumph against LIU Brooklyn in the title tilt.
 
The second straight second team All-NEC singles honor for Jentz comes at the #4 position, a year after earning #6 flight honors as a freshman.  The Plano, TX native tied for the team lead with 12 victories and finished 3-1 in league play.  Jentz went 2-0 in the NEC Tournament and claimed the Red Flash’s lone singles win against eventual champion Bryant in the semis.
 
A first team award recipient at the #6 flight as a sophomore, Zonneveld closed out her career with a second singles honor, this time at the #5 position.  She compiled a 5-2 mark against NEC competition with two of those victories coming in the NEC Tournament.  She ranked third on the Blackbirds with 10 singles victories.
 
Gryckiewicz competed most of the year at #5 singles before settling in to the #6 spot late in the season.  She won her lone NEC match against Mount St. Mary’s in April and was leading in the third set against Bryant in the NEC semis when the match was called.  On the year, Gryckiewicz finished with a 10-9 record.
 
A pair of Saint Francis U teams earned second team All-NEC doubles recognition.  Junior Dani Gryckiewicz (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Academy) and senior Alex Sachs (Parkland, FL/Stoneman Douglas) were selected at #2 doubles, and were joined by senior Lucy Jasso (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Instituto Potosino) and sophomore Brittani Jentz (Plano, TX/Ursuline Academy of Dallas) at the #3 slot.  Along with her NEC Player of the Year award, Bryant sophomore Ryan Brown (Austin, TX/Lake Travis) teamed with classmate Marion Bouillin (San Diego, CA/Torrey Pines) to earn #1 flight doubles honors.
 
Everything came together for Brown and Bouillin during Bryant’s stretch run.  The #1 tandem won four of their last five matches to improve to 15-12 on the year for the Bulldogs.  The duo also posted a 3-1 conference record.  Brown previously earned second team #1 doubles recognition teaming with Rosie Bird last season.
 
Gryckiewicz and Sachs have proven to be a successful pairing for Saint Francis U, having earned back-to-back second team All-NEC honors at the #2 position.  The tandem won two-of-three NEC matches and compiled nine total wins on the year.
 
Jasso and Jentz also achieved All-NEC second team doubles status for the second consecutive year.  The duo went 2-1 in matches against NEC teams and 5-5 on the year competing out of the #3 flight.
 
The first-ever All-NEC Rookie team is headlined by NEC Rookie of the Year Ashanti Campfield (Stratford, CT/Bunnell) of Bryant.  She is joined by teammate Linnea Sjoberg (Stockholms Ian, Sweden), a second team All-NEC pick at the #3 flight.  There are four other All-Rookie honorees: Wagner’s Samantha Hodges (Encitas, CA/San Dieguito Academy) (#2), Mount St. Mary’s Sruthi Kamprath (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) (#3), Fairleigh Dickinson’s Alex Bryant (Sydney, Australia/Loreto Kirribilli) (#5) and Sacred Heart’s Sabrina Navarro Lopez (Trujillo, PR/Colegio San Antonio) (#6).
 
Hodges finished the year with six wins on an improved Wagner team.  She won four times at the #2 spot and also came away with a pair of NEC victories.
 
Kamprath was tabbed the NEC Rookie of the Week on March 31.  She tallied a team-high 11 singles wins on the year for the Mount, including a 9-6 mark at the #3 flight.  She also finished 3-1 in league play.
 
The lone freshman on Fairleigh Dickinson, Bryant won four singles matches in 2014-15 competing at the #5 flight.
 
Navarro Lopez elevated her game in the spring, winning four straight matches at one point.  She finished with five victories on the year and was named NEC Rookie of the Week on March 24.
 
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 34th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#23), Baltimore (#27), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+, all @NECsports.