Northwestern University Athletics
No. 1 Northwestern Receives Three ITA National Honors
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 21, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After the best season in program history, the ITA recognized Northwestern for its success with three national award winners earning accolades. The honors cap off a season filled with success and broken records, but unfortunately ended with a disappointing NCAA quarterfinal loss to California.
Head coach Claire Pollard was named the Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year, while her assistant, David Mullins, took home the National Assistant Coach of the Year award as an at-large selection. Maria Mosolova (Moscow, Russia/No. 204) was recognized as the National Player to Watch. After winning three ITA Midwest Regional Awards last week, each recipient was nominated as a possible national award winner. The Wildcats took home two of those three possible awards and were given an at-large selection for the third to assistant coach Dave Mullins for his spectacular efforts this season.
Pollard garners her first ITA national honor, and has been recognized as the ITA Midwest Region Coach of the Year four times in her 10-year tenure. Her last honor came in 2005. Pollard capped the most successful season under her reign, finishing 29-2 overall.
This season, Pollard led the Wildcats to their 10th-consecutive Big Ten title, fourth-consecutive undefeated conference regular season and fifth-straight berth to the NCAA Championships Round of 16. In April, she was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth-time in 10 seasons.
Mullins was recognized as the ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year for the first time in his three years at Northwestern. By winning the regional award in 2007, Mullins was ineligible to repeat in the Midwest region this year. However, his efforts were clearly noticed nation-wide as he garnered the honor as an at-large selection. Mullins boasts a 77-12 record during his three seasons at Northwestern.
After being named Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Year, ITA Regional Rookie of the Year and Player to Watch, the performance of rookie standout Maria Mosolova is being further credited with her ITA National Player to Watch accolade. In her first season as a Wildcat, Mosolova stepped into the No. 1 singles role and dominated, going undefeated in Big Ten play and posting a team-best 38-5 overall record. She will continue her quest to earn more hardware as the No. 4 overall seed in this week's NCAA singles championship.
It marks the first time that three members of the Wildcat team earned ITA national honors in one year. Previous national award recipients include Georgia Rose (2007 ITA National Player to Watch), Audra Cohen (2005 ITA National Rookie of the Year) and Cristelle Grier (2003 ITA National Player to Watch).
This year's Wildcat squad put together a storybook season en route to their quest for a national title. The 'Cats have broken every all-time team record this season, amassing more wins (29), shutouts (15), consecutive match victories (23) and team winning percentage (.935) than any other Northwestern women's tennis program.
The singles and doubles championships get underway Wednesday and will be held at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa, May 21-26. For additional NCAA tournament information, please visit Tulsa's official championships homepage.
For the complete list of the ITA national and regional award winners, please visit the ITA Website.
