Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Land Four on All-Big Ten Teams
4/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 28, 2011
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Four members of the Northwestern women's tennis squad received All-Big Ten accolades as announced Thursday evening at the annual Big Ten Tournament banquet in Ann Arbor, Mich. Senior Maria Mosolova became the fifth four-time honoree in the history of the NU program while sophomore Kate Turvy and freshman Belinda Niu joined Mosolova on the first team.
Sophomore Brittany Wowchuk was named to the All-Big Ten second team. For Turvy, Niu and Wowchuk, the recognition was the first of their careers.
Freshman Nida Hamilton also was honored as Northwestern's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Mosolova got off to a 17-0 start in the dual season and finished 18-2 with seven wins over top-75-ranked opponents on the No. 1 singles line. Currently ranked No. 13 nationally, Mosolova also was her reliable self in doubles, going 17-6 overall and 15-4 when playing alongside Niu. Mosolova finished her Big Ten dual singles career with a record of 33-3 and is 137-33 overall in her four years at Northwestern.
Mosolova, a two-time conference Player of the Year, joins Katherine Nasser, Cristelle Grier, Georgia Rose and Samantha Murray as the only four-time All-Big Ten selections in Northwestern history.
In her rookie season, Niu posted a 17-6 dual record and won eight of her 10 Big Ten outings while also going 9-1 in Big Ten dual action. She quickly rose to Northwestern's No. 2 singles position where she was 9-4 on the year and ranked as highly as No. 65 in the Campbell's/ITA College Tennis rankings.
Mosolova and Niu were among the five unanimous selections to the All-Big Ten first team.
Turvy has amassed a 26-9 singles record during the 2010-11 campaign including a 15-6 dual mark. She was 8-1 in the Big Ten and spent much of the year ranked in the top-100 nationally in singles.
Forced to miss nearly six weeks of the regular season due to injury, Wowchuk made the most of her time on the court in going 21-10 on the year and 11-8 during her first season as a dual starter. She also made her mark in doubles, going 13-4 in duals and 6-3 in conference.
Conference champion Michigan swept the major individual awards for Player of the Year (Denise Muresan), Freshman of the Year (Brooke Bolender) and Coach of the Year (Ronni Bernstein).
The second-seeded Wildcats officially begin defending their 12 consecutive Big Ten Tournament titles Friday when they take on Indiana in the quarterfinals of the 2011 tournament. Start time in Ann Arbor is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.
A complete list of 2011 All-Big Ten honorees in women's tennis is below:
First Team All-Big Ten
Rachael White, Illinois
Leslie Hureau, Indiana
Evgeniya Vertesheva, Indiana
SONJA MOLNAR, Iowa
BROOKE BOLENDER, Michigan
Sam Critser, Michigan
DENISE MURESAN, Michigan
Whitney Taney, Michigan
Maria Mosolova, Northwestern
Belinda Niu, Northwestern
Kate Turvy, Northwestern
Petra Januskova, Penn State
Second Team All-Big Ten
Amy Allin, Illinois
Amy Barton, Michigan State
Natallia Pintusava, Minnesota
Brittany Wowchuk, Northwestern
Kelsey Haviland, Ohio State
Jennifer Rabot, Purdue
Bhavani Tirumurti, Purdue
Jenny Hois, Wisconsin
Unanimous selections in CAPS
Additional honorees due to a tie
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