[Women's Tennis] Victoria Monakhova named CCAC Player of the Year; Huck, Kuechenberg selected ...

CHICAGO --- Olivet Nazarene University's Victoria Monakhova (Moscow, Russia) capped off a four-year career in which she was recognized as a first-team all-conference selection all four years by being named the 2018 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Year, it was announced by the league office, along with the rest of the 2018 women's tennis honor roll, on Tuesday.

Monakhova, who never lost a match in conference play during her four-year run, went 12-4 overall in singles play and 13-4 in doubles action this past year and earned No. 16 singles and No. 23 doubles national rankings.  In the East Region rankings, she placed No. 5 on the singles side and No. 7 in doubles play.

Five different schools in all were represented on either the six-member all-conference first team or three-team doubles squad.  On the singles side, Monakhova was joined by teammate Dana Huck (Huntertown, Ind.).  Other selections were Sofia School (Korntal, Germany) of University of St. Francis, Sofia Corona Garza (Mexico City, Mexico) of Judson University, Lisa Keller (Neustadt, Germany) of Cardinal Stritch University and Kaylynn Gruber (Munster, Ind.) of Holy Cross College.   

Monakhova, Keller and Scholl were also chosen to the doubles team along with teammates Anna Kuechenberg (Crystal Lake, Ill.), Livia Hollosy (Budaors, Hungary) and Eva Lopez (Zaragoza, Spain).  Hollosy was a repeat selection to the squad.

Keller and Scholl, meanwhile, shared CCAC Freshman of the Year accolades.  Keller went undefeated in conference singles and doubles play en route to earning East Region No. 19 singles and No. 9 doubles rankings this year.  On the national level, she ranked as high as No. 12 in doubles play.

Scholl turned in a 15-6 singles mark (11-3 in dual matches) and a 14-10 doubles record in 2018 with her only singles losses in dual matches coming against ranked foes.  She also gained both a singles and doubles win over ranked foes.  In CCAC play, Scholl went 5-1 in singles play and 4-2 in doubles action.

Other honors bestowed included Holy Cross head coach Steve Bender being named the CCAC Coach of the Year after taking the first-year program to a 3-4 conference mark and a 7-11 overall record.

Three of the eight teams in the league also shared CCAC Champions of Character Team award recognition.  That co-distinction went to Holy Cross, Olivet Nazarene and St. Francis.