ALEXANDRIA - LSUA's perfect season resulted in six players being named to the Red River Athletic Conference All-Conference team and coach Melinda Descant earning Coach of the Year honors.
Six players of the No. 4 LSUA women’s team, as well as head coach Melinda Descant, were honored as members of the Red River Athletic Conference All-Conference teams, the league announced this past weekend.
LSUA (17-0) placed three members on both the first and second teams.
The Generals were led by Alicia Romero Gomez, Candela Bonivardi, and Maria Alvarez, who were three of the six members of the first team.
Olivia Scattini, Annemart Kleijn, and Patricia Martinez Molina all were chosen to the RRAC All-Second Team. In addition to being named to the second team, Scattini was also named RRAC Newcomer of the Year.
Romero Gomez, a junior from Cordoba, Spain, won eight of her nine singles matches in the regular season, including a perfect 6-0 at the No. 2 spot in the rotation. She was almost as good at doubles, going an impressive 10-2.
Despite being banged up for much of the year, Bonivardi has had a solid season at the top of the rotation for the Generals. In the regular season, she went 4-1 and led the team to a big win over then-No. 3 XULA to start the season off on a high note. For that, she earned RRAC Player of the Week.
Alvarez, a sophomore from Madrid, Spain, went 8-3 in the regular season in singles and a perfect 5-0 in doubles. When Bonivardi was banged up and unable to play singles, Alvarez stepped up and won six of her seven matches at the top spot in the singles rotation.
Martinez Molina, a junior from Madrid, has had a perfect season, going 19-0 combined in singles and doubles in the regular season. The junior is coming off an RRAC Tournament in which her record was once again perfect and won the lone third set match to clinch the RRAC Tournament title this past Saturday against XULA. For her efforts, she was named Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Scattini went 9-1 in singles, including a 2-0 record against Division I opponents. She also went 9-4 in doubles, playing at the top of the doubles rotation.
Kleijn, a transfer from Meppel, The Netherlands, made her mark in her first season with LSUA, going 23-3 combined between singles and doubles. She went 11-1 in singles, including 3-0 against Division I opponents. She went 12-2, playing primarily at the No. 1 doubles position.
In addition to her Second Team All-RRAC selection, Kleijn was the Generals’ choice to be on the RRAC Champions of Character Team, which is nominated by the school's coach and given to a player who shows tremendous character both on and off the court.
All six players honored were named RRAC Player of the Week once during the season.
The Generals await their seeding for the NAIA Tournament after winning a thriller 4-3 over No. 11 Xavier in the RRAC Tournament title match to earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NAIA Tournament. LSUA will likely earn one of eight byes in the first round of the tournament.
Written by Jonathan Zenk, LSUA Sports Information Director
Photo credit - Cameron Mosely, LSUA Media