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Somerset, NJ -- The latest in a long line of LIU Brooklyn women’s tennis greats, sophomore Anna Grigoryan (Moscow, Russia) helped catapult the Blackbirds to their third Northeast Conference (NEC) title last month. The league’s head coaches recognized her outstanding season by unanimously selecting Grigoryan as the 2017 NEC Player of the Year. It was a clean sweep of major awards for LIU with freshman Sasha Bollweg (Melbourne, Australia/Melbourne Girls College) earning NEC Rookie of the Year accolades and Anthony Davison collected NEC Coach of the Year honors in a vote of his peers.
 
Fresh off her NEC Rookie of the Year campaign in 2015-16, Grigoryan picked up right where she left off for the Blackbirds. She has amassed a 12-4 record, including a 11-2 mark at the #1 flight. She won five of her six conference matches, and avenged her lone regular season setback to FDU’s Shreya Pasricha with a 7-5, 6-2 win over the Knights’ star in the NEC title match. She was also within one game of winning both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches when they were halted. Grigoryan’s .750 win percentage ranks third in the NEC among players with 10+ singles matches and she has won five of her last six heading into the NCAA Tournament. A two-time NEC Player of the Week this spring, Grigoryan acquired signature wins over Fordham’s Carina Ma and Seton Hall’s Anna Fajnorova. She also secured first team All-NEC honors at #1 doubles with partner Ana Leonte. Grigoryan, who hails from Moscow, joins Jessica Loose (2006), Selma Babic (2009, 2010) and Sanne Louwers (2014) as LIU Brooklyn student-athletes who have been voted NEC Player of the Year.
 
Bollweg stepped right into the #2 singles slot for LIU Brooklyn and performed like a veteran from day one. She enters May with a 13-3 record on the year with the only losses coming to players from St. John’s, Akron and Columbia. Bollweg went a perfect 6-0 against NEC rivals, including a straight set win in LIU’s victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the conference final. The Aussie native hasn’t dropped a match since March, winning six straight in April while claiming a pair of NEC Rookie of the Week awards. Her 11-1 mark in #2 singles matches gave her the highest win percentage (.917) at any single flight in the NEC this season and her .812 overall percentage ranks second on the circuit for those with 10+ matches on the year. Bollweg also earned second team All-NEC doubles recognition, teaming with Malin Leysen at the #2 flight. Following in the footsteps of teammate Anna Grigoryan (2016), she is the fifth LIU Brooklyn player to be named NEC Rookie of the Year, joining Merve Koksal (2004), Ashley Harvey (2006) and Sanne Louwers (2012).
 
Davison took over an LIU Brooklyn program steeped in tradition, but one that had gone six straight years without an NEC title to its credit. With star player Anna Grigoryan already in the fold, he added a trio of impact freshman in Sasha Bollweg, Jennifer Gogova and Ana Leonte, who combined to post a 33-18 record on the year. The Blackbirds won all five of their conference matches to earn the top seed in the NEC Tournament, then cruised through the quarters and semis before dethroning Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-0, in the title match to bring home the program’s third NEC crown. Under Davison’s guidance, four players earned first team All-NEC singles honors and all three of his doubles teams achieved all-star status, while Grigoryan and Bollweg were named the NEC Player and Rookie of the Year, respectively. He joins four-time winner Asi Phillips (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) as NEC Coach of the Year honorees from LIU.
 
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
 
Those voted to All-NEC teams represent a staggering 15 different countries. The 12 All-NEC singles honorees come from ten different countries.
 
Bryant, Fairleigh Dickinson and LIU Brooklyn together claimed all 12 of the All-NEC singles spots. Each team landed four honorees, though all four of LIU’s award winners made the first team. The three schools also earned all six of the doubles honors.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson senior Shreya Pasricha (New Delhi, India/Amity International School), who tied for the league lead with 17 wins and was 11-3 in #1 flight play, earned All-NEC honors for the third time in her career. She was a first team pick at #4 singles a year ago, and a second team honoree at #2 in her freshman season back in 2014. Pasricha wrapped her career with an impressive 69-38 singles record.
 
A freshman sister combo from Fairleigh Dickinson both earned All-NEC accolades. Patricia Eftenoiu (Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar) was named to the first team at #6 singles and Tatiana Eftenoiu (Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar) was a second team honoree at #3 singles.
 
Three freshman players in total earned first team All-NEC accolades. Joining NEC Rookie of the Year Sasha Bollweg (Melbourne, Australia/Melbourne Girls College) (#2) were teammate Jennifer Gogova (London, England/Ashmole Academy) (#3) and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Patricia Eftenoiu (Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar) (#6).
 
Former NEC Player of the Year Ryan Brown (Austin, TX/Lake Travis) of Bryant collected her third career All-NEC honor when she was tabbed to the second team at #6 singles. Also honored for the third time in singles for the Bulldogs was junior Linnea Sjoberg (Stockholm, Sweden/Kunskapsgymnasiet Globen), who was a second team pick at the #2 flight.
 
Bryant junior Ashanti Campfield (Stratford, CT/Bunnell), a first team All-NEC doubles honoree with Nina Luiggi (Notthingham, England/Minster School) at the #2 spot, has now earned doubles accolades in each of her first three years in Smithfield.
 
Two of the league’s most accomplished #1 singles players this past season were tabbed to the All-NEC Rookie team. Saint Francis U’s Lucia Seigford (Madrid, Spain/Mirasur) won 15 matches and went 4-1 against NEC competition, while Mount St. Mary’s Alexa Quintanilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Maria Reina Marianistas) tied for the league lead with 17 victories against just nine setbacks.
 
Saint Francis U continued to bolster its roster and add to its young core with a pair of freshman earning All-NEC Rookie recognition for the second straight season. Lucia Seigford (Madrid, Spain/Mirasur) and Laura Gutierrez (Bogota, Colombia/Cibecolegio UCN) joined teammates Raksha Bode (Reunion, FL/Florida Virtual School) and Stephanie Miller (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College HS), who were honored a year ago on the All-Rookie squad.
 
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 36th 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 Snapchat, all @NECsports.