Somerset, NJ -- Arriving at Mount St. Mary’s as a graduate student last fall, Amber Policare (East Atlantic Beach, NY/Florida Virtual (Maryland)) took the Northeast Conference (NEC) by storm.

Leading the Mount singles rotation, Policare beat out a stacked field of competitors around the league to become the first player in program history to capture the NEC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year award in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches.

Coming off a magical run to the NEC title earlier this month, Bryant claimed a pair of major honors.

Bryant’s Caitlyn Munson (Dacula, GA/Gwinnett Online Campus) capped a terrific freshman campaign with her crowning as NEC Rookie of the Year.

Barbara Cilli, who engineered the Bulldogs’ championship run, was voted NEC Coach of the Year for the third time in her career.

Policare arrived at Mount St. Mary’s following stops at Kansas and Maryland, and rounded into top form this past spring after missing the 2020-21 season with an injury. The East Atlantic Beach, NY product posted a 5-1 mark against NEC competition competing exclusively at the #1 flight. She turned heads with straight set wins over Bryant’s Ada Boru and 2020-21 NEC Player of the Year Sofiya Kuzina of LIU, both of whom would go on to earn first team All-NEC honors. Policare, who was named NEC Player of the Week on March 22, joined Alexa Quintanilla (2018 & 2019) as Mount student-athletes who achieved first team All-NEC status.

Munson made an immediate splash last fall and never looked back, becoming a vital cog in Bryant’s lineup and a key player in its run to the NEC title in April. She opened her Bryant career by winning NEC Rookie of the Month honors in September, and added a NEC Rookie of the Week award in March. Munson, who hails from Dacula, GA, has posted a 12-7 singles mark competing at both the #3 and #4 spots. She went 3-2 against NEC rivals, highlighted by a 6-2, 6-0 win in the NEC semis that helped the Bulldogs end LIU’s four-year title run. Munson also earned second team All-NEC doubles accolades along with Olivia Rondini. Ashanti Campfield (2015) and Arianna Oropeza (2018) previously won the NEC Rookie of the Year award for Bryant.

The dean of NEC coaches, Cilli will close out a memorable 22nd season at the helm of the Bryant program by taking the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament for the second time. Under her direction, Bryant made history with its run to the NEC championship, becoming the first No. 4 seed to capture the NEC title. The Bulldogs posted a 4-2 win over top-seeded LIU in the semis, then registered a convincing 4-1 victory over second-seeded FDU in the final to claim the program’s first crown since 2015. Sporting a pair of All-NEC first teamers in Ada Boru and Leanne Kendall, Bryant has won four straight heading into NCAA play. Cilli was also voted NEC Coach of the Year back in 2015 and 2016.

AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS

The #NECelite tennis honorees continued to have an international flavor. Those voted to the 2022 All-NEC and All-Rookie teams represented 14 different countries.

The lone undergraduate to earn All-NEC honors was Sacred Heart sophomore Katsiaryna Starastsenka (Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium), the 2020-21 NEC Rookie of the Year and a repeat All-NEC first team performer.

Bryant senior Ada Boru (Istanbul, Turkey/Boca Prep International School) and FDU senior Aleksandra Vorozheikina (Tambov, Russia/Lyceum 29) both earned their third All-NEC single honor. Boru, who was named the NEC Tournament MVP earlier this month after winning a pair of #1 singles matches, was picked to the first team for the third time, while Vorozheikina repeated as a second team honoree following her selection to the first team in 2019.

LIU is the only school to sport at least two first-team All-NEC recipients in each of the last five years. During that span, the Sharks have amassed a league-best 15 first team honorees. Senior Sofiya Kuzina (Moscow, Russia/School 90) and graduate student Valentina Dancenco’s (Chisinau, Moldova/Hillsborough) were voted to the six-player first team this season. Both Kuzina - who was the 2020-21 NEC Player of the Year - and Dancenco were both first team all-stars in 2021 as well.

Kuzina and Dancenco are tied for the league lead with 20 singles wins on the year. Dancenco went a perfect 8-0 in NEC play competing primarily out of the #2 spot, and won 11 straight to wrap the season.

Also repeating as NEC all stars were LIU junior Victoria Erechtchenko (Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn) and Sacred Heart junior Vitalina Golod (Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School). Both earned first team recognition a year ago and followed with second team honors in 2021-22.

FDU led the conference with four All-NEC singles award winners, each of whom was voted to the second team.

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. The pairing of Boru and Leanne Kendall (Lakeville, MA/Apponequet Regional) was named to the first team for the second year running. For Boru, it marked her third first team doubles accolade, having also been recognized with Sarah Hickey in 2019.

This marked the fourth year that All-NEC honors were awarded without flight designations.

FDU and Sacred Heart both featured a pair of NEC All-Rookie award winners, while Saint Francis U landed an All-Rookie player for the fifth time in six years with Anoek Pruijmboom’s (Utrecht, Netherlands/Leidsche Rijn College) inclusion on the squad.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 41st 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 including 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 in 2022-23 will include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.


2022 NEC Women's Tennis Award Winners                                 
                                                                                                                
NEC Player of the Year
Amber Policare                Mount St. Mary’s          Gr    East Atlantic Beach, NY/Florida Virtual (Maryland)

NEC Rookie of the Year
Caitlyn Munson                Bryant                    Fr    Dacula, GA/Gwinnett Online Campus

NEC Coach of the Year
Barbara Cilli                 Bryant                    22nd season

2022 NEC Women's Tennis First Team All-Conference  

Singles
 
Name                          School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Ada Boru                      Bryant                    Sr    Istanbul, Turkey/Boca Prep International School
Valentina Dancenco            LIU                       Gr    Chisinau, Moldova/Hillsborough
Leanne Kendall                Bryant                    Sr    Lakeville, MA/Apponequet Regional
Sofiya Kuzina                 LIU                       Sr    Moscow, Russia/School 90

Katsiaryna Starastsenka       Sacred Heart              So    Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium

Doubles
 
Name                          School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Ada Boru                      Bryant                    Sr    Istanbul, Turkey/Boca Prep International School
Leanne Kendall                Bryant                    Sr    Lakeville, MA/Apponequet Regional

Alena Kubanova                FDU                       Jr    Kazan, Russia/Gymnasium No. 7
Namie Isago                   FDU                       Fr    Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil/Colégio Saber

Valentina Dancenco            LIU                       Gr    Chisinau, Moldova/Hillsborough
Sofiya Kuzina                 LIU                       Sr    Moscow, Russia/School 90  
 
2022 NEC Women’s Tennis Second Team All-Conference              
 
Singles
 
Name                          School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Victoria Erechtchenko         LIU                       Jr    Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Vitalina Golod                Sacred Heart              Jr    Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School
Shreya Gulia                  FDU                       Jr    Sonipat, India/Little Angels Secondary
Alena Kubanova                FDU                       Jr    Kazan, Russia/Gymnasium No. 7
Amina Lasheen                 FDU                       Jr    Giza, Egypt/American City International School
Aleksandra Vorozheikina       FDU                       Sr    Tambov, Russia/Lyceum 29
Doubles
 
Name                          School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Caitlyn Munson                Bryant                    Fr    Dacula, GA/Gwinnett Online Campus
Olivia Rondini                Bryant                    So    Euclid, OH/Magnificat

Victoria Erechtchenko         LIU                       So    Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Elinor Storkaas               LIU                       Jr    Asker, Norway/Wang

Katsiaryna Starastsenka       Sacred Heart              So    Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
Ciara O’Toole                 Sacred Heart              Jr    Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School
 
2022 NEC Women’s Tennis All-Rookie Team