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Somerset, NJ -- For the fourth straight season and the eighth time in the 17-year history of the award, the Northeast Conference (NEC) Women’s Tennis Player of the Year honor has gone to a LIU student-athlete.
Less than two weeks after leading LIU to a fourth straight conference title, Sofiya Kuzina (Moscow, Russia/School 90) can now boast of being the top player on the circuit following a runaway victory in NEC Player of the Year voting conducted by the league’s head coaches.
Jan Griga, the architect of the Sharks’ title run earlier this month, was tabbed NEC Coach of the Year by his peers for the second consecutive season.
Sacred Heart freshman Katsiaryna Starastsenka (Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium) earned NEC Rookie of the Year honors.
Kuzina’s ascension to NEC Player of the Year follows LIU all-time great Anna Grigoryan’s unprecedented three-year stranglehold on the award from 2017-19. Patrolling the #1 flight for LIU, the Moscow native posted an 8-1 singles record with all eight victories coming in straight set fashion. She won both her postseason matches, including a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Bryant in the conference final that helped secure her NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors and send LIU to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year running. The two-time NEC Player of the Week upped her career singles record to 22-6 over her first two seasons, a 78.6 win percentage. Jessica Loose (2006), Selma Babic (2009, 2010), Sanne Louwers (2014) and Grigoryan (2017-19) were previous NEC Player of the Year winners for LIU.
Starastsenka looks to be a foundational piece around which a rising Sacred Heart program can build over the next three years. She looked like a seasoned veteran in building an 8-3 singles mark, including a 6-1 record against NEC rivals competing primarily at the #2 and #3 singles flights. The eight wins led the Pioneers and two of her three setbacks came in three-setters against St. John’s and UConn. Starastsenka, who hails from Mogilev, Belarus, won a league-leading three NEC Rookie of the Week honors. She is the first NEC Rookie of the Year award winner in program history.
Griga has experienced that winning feeling each and every year of his time coaching at LIU. The Sharks won the NEC crown twice when he served as an assistant in 2017 and 2018, and have since gone two-for-two since his elevation to head coach in 2019. This spring he guided LIU to a perfect 9-0 dual match record that culminated in the program’s fourth consecutive NEC championship and sixth in school annals with a 4-1 win over Bryant in the final. Since Griga’s arrival on the scene as an assistant, LIU has put together a 60-23 overall record and incredible 33-1 mark against conference rivals. This season, he coached three All-NEC first teamers, including NEC Player of the Year Sofiya Kuzina. Griga (2019, 2021), Anthony Davison (2017, 2018) and four-time winner Asi Phillips (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) comprise LIU’s NEC Coach of the Year honorees.
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
The #NECelite tennis honorees continued to have an international flavor. Those voted to All-NEC and All-Rookie teams incredibly represented 17 different countries.
Of the 12 All-NEC singles winners, just three are seniors or graduate students.
Two freshman - NEC Rookie of the Year Katsiaryna Starastsenka (Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium) and Saint Francis U’s Dominique Yeo (Leiden, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Oegstgeest) - earned All-NEC honors. Starastsenka was a first team all-star, while Yeo earned second team accolades.
NEC champion LIU, along with Bryant and Sacred Heart, tied with a league-best three All-NEC singles award winners apiece.
FDU graduate student Tatiana Eftenoiu (Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar) was the lone player to claim All-NEC honors for the third time. A three-time selection to the second team, she was previously recognized in 2017 and 2018. Junior teammate Aleksandra Vorozheikina (Tambov, Russia), the NEC Rookie of the Year and first team All-NEC performer in 2019, was also named to the second team.
Bryant junior Ada Boru (Boca Raton, FL/Boca Prep International School) repeated on the All-NEC first team, while teammate Arianna Oropeza (Weston, FL/Cypress Bay) earned a second straight second team accolade to wrap her senior campaign.
Wagner freshman Gabrielle Perraudin (Paris, France/Passy Saint Honore) became the first Seahawk to earn All-Rookie honors since Rina Baynes in 2016.
LIU is the only school to sport at least two first-team All-NEC award recipients each of the last four years. During that span, the Sharks have had 13 players voted to the first team.
All three Sacred Heart All-NEC singles honorees - Starastsenka, and sophomores Vitalina Golod (Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School) and Ciara O’Toole (Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School) - are underclassmen.
Bryant’s legacy of doubles success continued this season. The Bulldogs have had at least one doubles team earn All-NEC status every year since 2014 and were the only school with two doubles teams honored this spring.
This marked the third year that All-NEC honors were awarded without flight designations.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 40th anniversary season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, 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.
2021 NEC Women's Tennis Award Winners
NEC Player of the Year
Sofiya Kuzina LIU Jr Moscow, Russia/School 90
NEC Rookie of the Year
Katsiaryna Starastsenka Sacred Heart Fr Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
NEC Coach of the Year
Jan Griga LIU 3rd season
2021 NEC Women's Tennis First Team All-Conference
Singles
Name School Yr Hometown/High School
Ada Boru Bryant Jr Boca Raton, FL/Boca Prep International School
Valentina Dancenco LIU Sr Chisinau, Moldova/Hillsborough
Victoria Erechtchenko LIU So Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Vitalina Golod Sacred Heart So Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School
Sofiya Kuzina LIU Jr Moscow, Russia/School 90
Katsiaryna Starastsenka Sacred Heart Fr Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
Doubles
Name School Yr Hometown/High School
Ada Boru Bryant Jr Boca Raton, FL/Boca Prep International School
Leanne Kendall Bryant Jr Lakeville, MA/Apponequet Regional
Victoria Erechtchenko LIU So Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Jasmine Maduel LIU Fr Rishon Lezion, Israel/Cooper City (FL)
Ciara O’Toole Sacred Heart So Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School
Katsiaryna Starastsenka Sacred Heart Fr Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
2021 NEC Women’s Tennis Second Team All-Conference
Singles
Name School Yr Hometown/High School
Tatiana Eftenoiu Fairleigh Dickinson Gr Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar
Sarah Hickey Bryant Jr Toronto, Ontario/Silverthorn Collegiate Institute
Arianna Oropeza Bryant Sr Weston, FL/Cypress Bay
Ciara O’Toole Sacred Heart So Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School
Aleksandra Vorozheikina Fairleigh Dickinson Jr Tambov, Russia
Dominique Yeo Saint Francis U Fr Leiden, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Oegstgeest
Doubles
Name School Yr Hometown/High School
Sarah Hickey Bryant Jr Toronto, Ontario/Silverthorn Collegiate Institute
Manuela Gomez Estrada Bryant So Guayaquil, Ecuador/Unidad Educativa Delta
Tatiana Eftenoiu Fairleigh Dickinson Gr Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar
Amina Lasheen Fairleigh Dickinson So Giza, Egypt/American City International School
Adriana Barney Mount St. Mary’s Fr San Juan, Puerto Rico/Bonneville School
Riya Mathur Mount St. Mary’s Fr Gurgaon, India/Aesa Prep International
2021 NEC Women’s Tennis All-Rookie Team
Name School Yr Hometown/High School
Shirley Liang Mount St. Mary’s Fr East Gwillimbury, Ontario/Blyth Academy
Gabrielle Perraudin Wagner Fr Paris, France/Passy Saint Honore
Flavia Rambaldi Sacred Heart Fr Rome, Italy/Liceo Scientficio Primo Levi
Olivia Rondini Bryant Fr Euclid, OH/Magnificat
Katsiaryna Starastsenka Sacred Heart Fr Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
Dominique Yeo Saint Francis U Fr Leiden, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Oegstgeest