Novo Earns A-Sun Women's Tennis Player Of The Year Honors
4/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Riding the Cinderella story coattails of the USC Upstate women's tennis team claiming the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title in its first year as a member of the conference and Division I, junior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel) was recognized as the conference's Player of the Year and a member of the All-Atlantic Sun First Team, the conference announced on Thursday afternoon. Senior Susana Hernandez (Cali, Colombia/Colegio Americano) was named to the second team and freshman Emilia Milovanovic (Paris, France/CNED) was included on the All-Freshman Team.
Novo, a two-time Division II All-American, finished the season with a school-record 29 singles wins and 52 combined (singles and doubles) wins. She was 29-5 in singles play and 23-7 in doubles. Along the way, she was completely dominant in the Atlantic Sun Conference, finishing a perfect 11-0 at the No. 1 singles slot, being pushed to the third set just twice and defeating the conference's only ranked player in straight sets in ETSU's No. 79 Yevgeniya Stupak, 6-4, 6-3.
Novo was dominant all season long, never losing more than two matches in a row. In the fall, she went 12-2, winning singles and doubles titles with partner Milovanovic at both the USC Upstate Fall Tournament and the Wolfpack Invitational. Along the way, she passed Hernandez for second in school history in singles wins (64), moved into fourth in school history in doubles wins (50) and third in combined wins (114).
Novo is the second player in the women's programs history to earn player of the year honors, joining Missy O'Neill, the 1992 Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year. It is her third all-conference recognition, having earned two all-conference nods in the Peach Belt. She was also the 2005 Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.
Hernandez, the Spartans No. 2 singles player, went 20-9 in singles play this year and added an 18-5 record in doubles play at the No. 2 position to earn Second Team All-A-Sun honors. The 5-7 Colombian was a key player for the Spartans all year long, as she posted a 6-3 mark in Atlantic Sun Conference play and added a 7-1 mark in doubles with junior partner Daniela Lovera (Caracas, Venezuela/Santa Rosa de Lima). She is one of just three players in school history to win 20 matches in back-to-back seasons, also winning 20 in 2006-07, joining Novo and senior Diana Martinez (Medellin, Colombia/Nuestra Senora del Rosario).
Hernandez finished a distinguished career with the Spartans in second in both doubles wins (63) and combined wins (125) while her 62 singles wins is third.
Milovanovic earned All-Freshman honors after a respectable first season for Upstate. Playing in the top three all season for the Spartans, she finished the year with a 13-18 singles mark to go with 23 doubles wins for 36 combined wins, which broke the freshman record for combined wins at Upstate. Playing doubles with Novo, the pair was a terror, going 23-7 during the season with a 13-5 record in dual meets. In tournament play, the duo won two tournament titles at the Upstate Fall Tournament and the Wolfpack Invitational.
Upstate finished the year 17-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference to win the school's first Atlantic Sun Conference title. The Spartans, in their first year of Division I competition, are not eligible for postseason competition until 2010-11 as they are a provisional member of DI.
