Somerset, NJ -- LIU has enjoyed a near lockdown on the most prestigious individual honor in NEC women’s tennis and this year was no different.
 
This time around it was LIU junior Leo Boisseau (Levallois, France/Passy Saint-Honoré) who was tabbed the NEC Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches after she helped lead the Sharks to a fifth conference title in six years.
 
FDU’s Anastasia Lim (Kazan, Russia) put the exclamation point on an impactful freshman season when she was recognized as NEC Rookie of the Year.
 
Mike Guastelle, who orchestrated Sacred Heart’s first-ever run to an NEC final, was tabbed NEC Coach of the Year by his peers.
 
Boisseau, who arrived in Brookville last fall after spending two years at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, took the NEC by storm in 2022-23. She has posted an 18-9 record competing primarily at the #2 singles spot and finished conference play with a 5-1 mark vs. NEC rivals. Her 18 wins and .667 win percentage both rank third in the NEC. Boisseau was named to the NEC All-Tournament team after winning a pair of straight set matches, including a 6-2, 7-6 victory in LIU’s 4-0 win over Sacred Heart in the NEC title match. The Levallois, France native, who secured non-league victories vs. Rutgers, UConn, FAU, Pacific and Navy, will head into the NCAA Tournament sporting a six-match singles win streak. Boisseau, who was a two-time NEC Player of the Week this spring and the NEC Player of the Month last October, became the fifth LIU student-athlete in six years and ninth in the 19-year history of the award to win NEC Player of Year accolades. She joined former LIU stars Jessica Loose (2006), Selma Babic (2009 & 2010), Sanne Louwers (2014), Anna Grigoryan (2017, 2018 & 2019) and Sofiya Kuzina (2021) in the conference recordbook. Boisseau also earned All-NEC first team doubles honors with Marion Deloziere.
 
Lim wasted little time in becoming one of the mainstays in the FDU lineup. Splitting her time between the #1 and #2 flights, the Kazan, Russia product won ten matches on the year, highlighted by notable triumphs against Penn and Hofstra. Even in defeat, she took three eventual first team All-NEC veterans to three sets. Lim finished 4-2 at the #2 spot and won four of her final six matches. She captured the final three NEC Rookie of the Week honors of the regular season and was the lone freshman to collect All-NEC plaudits with her selection to the second team. The fifth FDU competitor to be named NEC Rookie of the Year, Lim added her name to a list that includes Julija Korsunova (2007), Nicole Chis (2013), Ksenija Tihomirova (2014) and Aleksandra Vorozheikina (2019).
 
The dean of NEC coaches, Guastelle guided Sacred Heart on a memorable run to the program’s first conference final after claiming a best-ever #2 seed in the NEC Tournament. The Pioneers closed out the season with a 7-1 NEC record and 16-7 overall mark that featured wins against regional rivals Seton Hall, Bryant, Providence, URI and UConn. Sacred Heart posted a pair of 4-0 victories against Wagner and FDU in the NEC Championship before falling to LIU in the title tilt. Guastelle became the first SHU coach to claim this honor.
 
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
 
As always, the #NECelite tennis teams have an international flavor. Those voted to the 2023 All-NEC and All-Rookie teams represented 17 different countries.
 
Lim was the lone freshman named to an All-NEC squad. She was tabbed to the second team.
 
LIU led the way with four All-Conference honorees. Boisseau was joined by teammates Victoria Erechtchenko (Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn) and Saki Oyama (Osaka, Japan/Nagaodani (North Texas)) on the first team, and Bianca Compuesto (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia/Maribyrnong College) on the second team. Erechtchenko, a senior who manned the #1 flight for the Sharks and was named the NEC Tournament MVP, is now a three-time All-NEC performer, sandwiching first team recognition in 2021 and 2023 around second team accolades a year ago. She was tabbed as an All-NEC doubles performer for the third straight year as well. Oyama arrived by way of North Texas and made an immediate impression when she was named September Rookie of the Month. The junior went 5-0 against NEC opponents, compiled a 17-9 record playing at the #3 spot and was named to the NEC All-Tournament team. Compuesto heads into NCAAs on a four-match win streak and has won 14 matches on the year.
 
Sacred Heart junior Katsiaryna Starastsenka (Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium), senior Vitalina Golod (Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School) and senior Ciara O’Toole (Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School) are all repeat honorees. Starastsenka, the 2020-21 NEC Rookie of the Year, is now a three-time first team All-NEC honoree. She ranks second in the conference with 19 singles wins, finished with a 17-5 mark at #1 singles and registered a 7-1 mark within the conference. Starastsenka was named the February NEC Player of the Month and was selected to the NEC All-Tournament team. She pocketed All-Conference doubles honors for the third straight year. Golod also collected her third All-NEC singles accolade and second first team nod of her career. She racked up 12 wins at the #2 flight and won five-of-seven conference matches. Golod won six of her final seven outings and earned a spot on the NEC All-Tournament team. O’Toole was a second teamer back in 2021 and is back for a second go-round this season. She tallied a 6-1 mark vs. league competition, went 9-3 at the #5 flight and won 15 total matches.
 
Saint Francis U’s Bente Vandeputte (Aarschot, Belgium/Katholieke Scholen Diest) stepped up her game in her sophomore season, amassing a league-best 22 singles wins on the year. She was a perfect 5-0 in NEC play and went 10-2 in #1 flight action. Vandeputte was a two-time NEC Player of the Week for the Red Flash.
 
FDU sophomore Namie Isago (Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil/Colégio Saber) elevated from the All-Rookie team a year ago to second team honors this season. She won all six of her conference matches, ended her season on a five-match win streak and ranked second on the Knights with 15 victories.
 
A pair of #1 flight players rounded out the All-NEC singles list with their inclusion on the second team. Merrimack sophomore Dzhastina Mikhnova (Togliatti, Russia/EF Academy) posted an 8-5 singles record, while Wagner junior Gabrielle Perraudin (Paris, France/Passy Saint Honore) won nine matches. Both players led their respective team in wins.
 
LIU had all three of its doubles tandems earn All-NEC honors, a feat that had not been accomplished since the Sharks pulled it off back in 2018. LIU has had at least one doubles team earn All-NEC status every year since 2017.
 
FDU sported a trio of All-Rookie award winners with Madeleine Graber (Gerzensee, Switzerland) along with two-time NEC Rookie of the Week and October NEC Rookie of the Month Valentina Silva (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) joining Lim.
 
Saint Francis U sported an All-Rookie honoree for the sixth time in seven years when freshman Kelly Dowuona (Brampton, Ontario, Canada/St. Marguertie d’Youville) was voted to the squad.
 
This marked the fifth year that All-NEC honors were awarded without flight designations.
  
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 42nd season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), 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 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, 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.
 

2023 NEC Women's Tennis Award Winners                                                                                                                    
NEC Player of the Year
Leo Boisseau               LIU                       Jr    Levallois, France/Passy Saint-Honoré (Texas A&M CC)

NEC Rookie of the Year

 
NEC Coach of the Year
Mike Guastelle             Sacred Heart   

2023 NEC Women's Tennis First Team All-Conference  

Singles
 
Name                       School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Leo Boisseau               LIU                       Jr    Levallois, France/Passy Saint-Honoré (Texas A&M CC)
Victoria Erechtchenko      LIU                       Sr    Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Vitalina Golod             Sacred Heart              Sr    Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School
Saki Oyama                 LIU                       Jr    Osaka, Japan/Nagaodani (North Texas)
Katsiaryna Starastsenka    Sacred Heart              Jr    Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
Bente Vandeputte           Saint Francis U           So    Aarschot, Belgium/Katholieke Scholen Diest

Doubles
 
Name                       School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Leo Boisseau               LIU                       Jr    Levallois, France/Passy Saint-Honoré
Marion Deloziere           LIU                       R-So  Wimille, France/Institution Rey (Central Florida)

Bianca Compuesto           LIU                       Sr    Melbourne, Victoria, Australia/Maribyrnong College
Saki Oyama                 LIU                       Jr    Osaka, Japan/Nagaodani (North Texas)

Kim Fenton                 Sacred Heart              Jr    Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional
Vitalina Golod             Sacred Heart              Sr    Kyiv, Ukraine/Ross School
   
2023 NEC Women’s Tennis Second Team All-Conference              
 
Singles
 
Name                       School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Bianca Compuesto           LIU                       Sr    Melbourne, Victoria, Australia/Maribyrnong College
Namie Isago                FDU                       So    Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil/Colégio Saber
Anastasia Lim              FDU                       Fr    Kazan, Russia
Dzhastina Mikhnova         Merrimack                 So    Togliatti, Russia/EF Academy
Gabrielle Perraudin        Wagner                    Jr    Paris, France/Passy Saint Honore
Ciara O’Toole              Sacred Heart              Sr    Dublin, Ireland/Our Lady’s School

Doubles
 
Name                       School                    Yr    Hometown/High School
Namie Isago                FDU                       So    Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil/Colégio Saber
Alena Kubanova             FDU                       Sr    Kazan, Russia/Gymnasium No. 7

Victoria Erechtchenko      LIU                       Sr    Augsburg, Germany/Gymnasium Koenigsbrunn
Elinor Storkaas            LIU                       Gr    Asker, Norway/Wang

Olivia Kharkover           Sacred Heart              So    Matawan, NJ/Old Bridge
Katsiaryna Starastsenka    Sacred Heart              Jr    Mogilev, Belarus/Mogilev City Gymnasium
 
2023 NEC Women’s Tennis All-Rookie Team