UNT Tennis Celebrates SBC Championship
{fshare id=2519}
DENTON, Texas – North Texas tennis celebrated its second Sun belt Conference Championship in three seasons on Sunday night at its annual banquet at the Denton Holiday Inn.
The Mean Green capped one of the best seasons in school history, taking its 18 victory over FIU in the SBC Championship, 4-2.
Nadia Lee received the Most Valuable Player awards for her campaign at the top-three slots of singles and as a member of the No. 1 doubles team with Barbora Vykydalova. The duo became the first tandem to be named an All-Sun Belt Conference doubles team for North Texas.
Vykydalova was named Most Improved Player by the North Texas team, coaching and support staff. The junior stepped up late in the season for the Mean Green and assembled an 8-3 overall record in singles play.
Valentina Starkova received the Catalina Cruz Spirit Award. The junior was deemed as the player that gave off the most energy on the court for her teammates to feed off of and displayed the most positive energy both on and off the court.
Two players, Kseniya Bardabush and Franziska Sprinkmeyer, received the Player to Watch Award. Bardabush was
the first NT freshman to be named to the All-Sun Belt team as she took home an 8-6 record at No. 1 singles, including a 5-1 mark in Sun Belt Play.
Sprinkmeyer was a fixture in doubles early on in the season, finishing the year with a 12-6 mark. The freshman also finished with a 2-2 singles record.
Senior Paula Dinuta took home the final two awards, as she garnered the team Academic Award and the Strength and Conditioning Award.
Dinuta won four three-set matches this season, including the winning point against No. 44 TCU and the third point in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. She proved time and again that she was going to outwork the other player and finished with a 16-6 record on the year.
Sunday Night’s banquet marked the last for three seniors who will play their last matches for North Texas in the NCAA Tournament.
Dinuta, Paraschiv and Lee represent a senior class that collected 72 dual match victories, which ties the best mark in program history.
Both Dinuta and Paraschiv were members of two Sun Belt Championships and were on the court for all six of NT’s victories over nationally ranked programs.
The three seniors collected a total of five Sun Belt Conference Players of the Week in their careers and saw the Mean Green reach a program high ranking of No. 40 earlier this season.
North Texas will find out its fate on Tuesday, May 1, at 4 p.m. for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show. The Mean Green will host a watch party on the Club Level of Apogee Stadium.
