Concordia's Costanza Mecchi Named 2015 CACC Women's Tennis Player of the Year
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (October 19, 2015) -- Concordia College standout Costanza Mecchi (Rome, Italy) was named the 2015 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women's Tennis Player of the Year on Tuesday to highlight the all-conference honorees and other major award winners as announced by Commissioner Dan Mara.
Mecchi was one of three major award winners who were announced on Tuesday, as Goldey-Beacom College's Merel Ann van Zanten (Velserbroek, Netherlands) was named the CACC Rookie of the Year and Post University's Rob Howard was tabbed as the BSN Sports CACC Coach of the Year.
In addition to being named the league's top player, Mecchi also earned a spot on the All-CACC First-Team, marking the third-consecutive year she earned the prestigious honor. Mecchi's player-of-the-year accolade is the second in her first three collegiate seasons, as she also took home the designation as a rookie during the 2013 campaign.
Mecchi went a perfect 8-0 at No. 1 singles during the regular season (dual matches) and produced a nearly identical mark of 7-0 at No. 1 doubles. She also advanced to the finals in the Singles "A" Flight of the ITA East Region Championship in late September.
Mecchi won in straight sets in six of her eight singles matches. She dropped just two sets overall. Mecchi defeated five competitors in regular season dual matches who earned CACC all-conference accolades as well, including four of those in straight sets.
Merel Ann van Zanten was 12-2 during the regular season in singles play, including 3-0 at No. 3 and 4-1 at No. 4. She was 6-1 in CACC play and has won four straight overall and eight of her last 10 matches. van Zanten teamed with Nina Sengl at No. 1 doubles to go 5-2 in that setting during the year.
Howard picked up the BSN Sports Coach-of-the-Year honor after guiding Post to an 11-4 overall record and a berth in this weekend's CACC Championship. The Eagles' 11 victories this fall are the most in the CACC, as they will also be making a return to the postseason after missing the playoffs in 2014.
Five other student-athletes joined Mecchi on the All-CACC First-Team and included Post's Liza Dubrovskaya (2014 CACC Rookie of the Year); Concordia's Linda Eliasson (third-straight All-CACC honor); Chestnut Hill College's Laure-Anne Josso; Post's Diana Perez; and Chestnut Hill's Lara Scholtze.
Seven student-athletes earned recognition by being placed on the All-CACC Second-Team. The list of honorees included Philadelphia University's Julia Arruda (back-to-back All-CACC honors); Concordia's Stefanie Canals-Baker (2013 All-CACC 2nd Team honoree); Concordia's Demi Huang; Caldwell University's Tamara Klimek; Holy Family University's Anastasiya Kolodiy (third-straight All-CACC honor); CHC's Iman Williams-Mulesa (third-straight All-CACC accolade); and University of the Sciences' Victoria Quang (third All-CACC honor in four years).
The final award announced on Tuesday was the 2015 CACC Women's Tennis Team Sportsmanship Award, which was given to Caldwell for the team's demonstration of good ethics and sportsmanship in helping to grow the sport at the conference level during the year. The Cougars are led by head coach Dave Erdos.
Voting for the CACC all-conference and major awards was conducted by the league's eight head coaches. The conference's sports information directors held the vote for the CACC Coach-of-the-Year honor.
Each honoree will be recognized this Friday at the 2015 CACC Women's Tennis Championship Banquet, which will kick off the sport's championship weekend at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. The championship semifinals will be held on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. with No. 1 seed and regular season champ Concordia facing fourth-seeded Goldey-Beacom in a rematch of last year's tournament final. The second semifinal contest on Saturday will see No. 2 Chestnut Hill squaring off with No. 3 Post. The two winners on Saturday will face each other in the CACC Championship Final on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician College, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Nyack College, Philadelphia University, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.
2015 CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Costanza Mecchi (Concordia)
2015 CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Merel Ann van Zanten (Goldey-Beacom)
2015 BSN SPORTS CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS COACH OF THE YEAR
Rob Howard (Post)
2015 CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Caldwell University
2015 ALL-CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS FIRST-TEAM
Liza Dubrovskaya (Post University)
Linda Eliasson (Concordia College)
Laure-Anne Josso (Chestnut Hill College)
Costanza Mecchi (Concordia College)
Diana Perez (Post University)
Lara Scholtze (Chestnut Hill College)
2015 ALL-CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS SECOND-TEAM
Julia Arruda (Philadelphia University)
Stefanie Canals-Baker (Concordia College)
Demi Huang (Concordia College)
Tamara Klimek (Caldwell University)
Anastasiya Kolodiy (Holy Family University)
Iman Williams-Mulesa (Chestnut Hill College)
Victoria Quang (University of the Sciences)