Central Islip, NY - Concordia College's Cristina Oliveira (Porto Allegre, Brazil) has been selected the 2008 Women's Tennis Player of the Year by the league's coaches. Fellow teammate Maria Ortiz (Bogota, Columbia) has been named the 2008 Rookie of the Year and the Clippers head coach Kela Simunyola was voted Coach of the Year by his peers.
Oliveira boasts an undefeated overall record in #1 singles (9-0, 6-0) and #1 doubles (9-0, 6-0) play. She had a strong performance at the ITA Regional Tournament, advancing to the semifinals in both the singles and doubles brackets.
Ortiz had an impressive rookie campaign. She compiled a 7-2 overall record in 5th singles with a 5-1 conference mark and was undefeated at 2nd doubles (9-0, 6-0).
Simunyola garners Coach of the Year honors for the third consecutive year after leading the Clippers to the regular season title with a 6-0 conference record.
Concordia and Queens College each placed two players on the ECC All-Conference First Team. Sumadi Drucker (Capetown, South Africa) joins Oliveria to represent Concordia while Laura Mocodeanu (Hyde Park, NY) and Maria Mendes (Sao Paolo, Brazil) represent the Knights. Adelphi University's Alda Ribeiro (Del Ray Beach, FL) and Dowling College's Tamiris Diversi (Limeira, Brazil) round out the First Team.
The ECC All-Conference Second Team is comprised of Celise Sesanker (Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago) and Ortiz of Concordia, Alyssa Morra (Bronx, NY) and Taylor Barber (Salt Lake City, Utah) of Queens, Cristina Hoffman Dummer (Floripa, Brazil) of Dowling and Carolyn Smith (Agua-Dulce, CA) of Adelphi.
ECC All-Conference First Team
Tamiris Diversi, Dowling College
Sumdai Drucker, Concordia College
Cristina Oliveira, Concordia College
Maria Mendes, Queens College
Laura Mocodeanu, Queens College
Alda Ribeiro, Adelphi College
ECC All-Conference Second Team
Taylor Barber, Queens College
Cristina Hoffman Dummer, Dowling College
Alyssa Morra, Queens College
Maria Ortiz, Concordia College
Celise Sesanker, Concordia College
Carolyn Smith, Adelphi University
Player of the Year: Cristina Oliveira, Concordia College
Rookie of the Year: Maria Ortiz, Concordia College
Coach of the Year: Kela Simunyola
