Schaub Honored as B1G Coach of the Year, Buckeyes Earn B1G Awards – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 30, 2015
RELATED INFO
· 2015 Ohio State Women’s Tennis Schedule
· Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook and Twitter
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Head coach Melissa Schaub, sophomore Gabriella De Santis, freshman Anna Sanford and junior Grainne O’Neill, members of the No. 18 Ohio State women’s tennis team, were all recognized by the Big Ten with postseason awards, the Big Ten Conference office announced Thursday. Schaub was honored as the B1G Coach of the Year, while De Santis and Sanford were voted to the All-Big Ten Team. O’Neill was named Ohio State’s Sportsmanship Award winner.
Schaub, in her third campaign at the helm of the Buckeyes, has led the Buckeyes to a standout season, as the squad finished second in the B1G regular season with a program-best 10 conference wins and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship game, as well as earned a second consecutive at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes, who had a program-record 11 match win streak during the year, have 20 wins to tie the program record. In her career at Ohio State, Schaub has collected a 49-29 record, two Top 3 B1G regular season finishes and two NCAA appearances. This is Schaub’s first B1G Coach of the Year honor and the first for an Ohio State head coach since Chuck Merzbacher in 1999.
The honor marks De Santis’ second career All-Big Ten selection. The Caracas, Venezuela, native led Ohio State with a 10-3 record on court one this spring and tied with a team-best nine singles victories vs. conference opponents. Alongside sophomore Sandy Niehaus, De Santis formed one of the toughest doubles teams in the Big Ten with a 20-9 overall record and 6-2 conference ledger. She was named B1G Athlete of the Week twice this season on March 10 and 31.
Sanford, from Westerville, Ohio, tallied an 18-14 overall singles record with five wins in conference outings. She notched a team-best 12 wins at No. 3 doubles with a 5-2 record in Big Ten play and was honored as an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete. It is her first career All-Big Ten Team selection and the second-consecutive season an Ohio State freshman has been named to the All-Big Ten Team.
O’Neill was honored with the Sportsmanship Award. The Blessington, Ireland, product closed out the spring season winning seven of her last eight singles matches and was 7-0 in Big Ten regular season singles outings.
The Buckeyes earned an at-large bid into the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships for the second-straight season and will face Oklahoma in the opening round of the tournament May 8. The match, hosted by No. 4 seed Vanderbilt, is slated to start at 1 p.m. ET in Nashville, Tenn.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Athlete of the Year: EMINA BEKTAS, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Erin Larner, Northwestern
Coach of the Year: Melissa Schaub, Ohio State
All-Big Ten Team
Alexis Casati, Illinois
Melissa Kopinski, Illinois
Katie Klyczek, Indiana
EMINA BEKTAS, Michigan
Sarah Lee, Michigan
Alex Najarian, Michigan
RONIT YUROVSKY, Michigan
Erin Faulkner, Michigan State
Alicia Barnett, Northwestern
Erin Larner, Northwestern
Gabriella De Santis, Ohio State
Anna Sanford, Ohio State
Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum, Purdue
Lauren Chypyha, Wisconsin
Unanimous selections in CAPS
Sportsmanship Award Winners
Melissa Kopinski, Illinois
Katie Klyczek, Indiana
Morven McCulloch, Iowa
Alexandra Stanova, Maryland
Ronit Yurovsky, Michigan
Athena Trouillot, Michigan State
Caroline Ryba, Minnesota
Maggy Lehmicke, Nebraska
Erin Larner, Northwestern
Grâinne O’Neill, Ohio State
Katia Blik, Penn State
Krisztina Kapitany, Purdue
Lindsay Balsamo, Rutgers
Ekaterina Stepanova, Wisconsin
