2017-18 Women's Tennis All-Conference Team (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – Sixteen different student-athletes comprised the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis All-Conference Team that was announced on Thursday evening from Owensboro, Ky.
Kentucky Wesleyan is serving as host to this year’s Great Midwest Championship, with No. 1 seed Hillsdale, No. 2 Walsh, No. 3 Davis & Elkins and No. 4 Findlay in the field.
Semifinal contests will be conducted starting at 9:30 a.m. CT and 11:30 a.m. Voting for the all-conference team and the individual award winners were conducted by the league’s coaches.
Hillsdale and Walsh each led the way with five selections on the combined first and second teams. Eight student-athletes were named to the first team and second team.
Hillsdale completed a perfect run through the conference schedule to be crowned regular-season Great Midwest champions. The Chargers accepted a trophy that resulted in the No. 1 seed in the championship bracket.
Hillsdale also earned a clean sweep in the individual award winners with
Great Midwest Player of the Year (Halle Hyman),
Great Midwest Freshman of the Year (Hannah Cimpeanu) and
Great Midwest Coach of the Year (Nikki Walbright).
Hyman, just a junior, was a three-time Great Midwest Athlete of the Week during the 2017-18 campaign. She manned the No. 1 singles position for most of the year and collected seven wins while facing the opponent’s top player.
Hyman also teamed with Cimpeanu for an impressive run in doubles action as they formed a 13-3 record. Cimpeanu was unfazed in her first year at the collegiate level as she put together the highest winning percentage singles (11-2 - .846) around the league.
Walbright, in her seventh season at the helm, navigated the Chargers to a 12-4 overall record, 7-0 mark in the Great Midwest, an ITA ranking as high as No. 47 and a No. 6 ranking in the Midwest Region. On paper, the Chargers will remain loaded for the 2018-19 campaign, all players without senior classification.
Hyman and Cimpeanu each made the All-Great Midwest First Team along with teammate and two-time conference athlete of the week Katie Bell with junior Madeline Bissett. Sophomore Kamryn Matthews made the second team. Bissett and Matthews had the best doubles winning percentage (.867) as they went 13-2.
The respective No. 1’s from each program in the conference tourney also made the first-team list with Walsh’s Mercedes Fernandez, Findlay’s Samantha Sweet and Davis & Elkins’ Laura Fermosel.
The second team was comprised of all underclassmen, including five freshmen and three sophomores. The rising talent in the league will be on display this weekend while even the first team had two freshmen, and a pair of sophomores. The first and second teams did not include any seniors.
| First Team |
Second Team |
| Katie Bell - Hillsdale - Sophomore |
Katarina Razum - Walsh - Freshman |
| Laura Fermosel - Davis & Elkins - Junior |
Maria Kacalova - Walsh - Freshman |
| Halle Hyman - Hillsdale - Junior |
Eliza Kirov - Findlay - Freshman |
| Samantha Sweet - Findlay - Freshman |
Liana English - Cedarville - Freshman |
| Madeline Bissett - Hillsdale - Junior |
Clara Drasch - Walsh - Freshman |
| Hannah Cimpeanu - Hillsdale - Freshman |
Janelle English - Cedarville - Sophomore |
| Mercedes Fernandez - Walsh - Sophomore |
Sofia Khairutdinova - Walsh - Sophomore |
| Elise Simon - Davis & Elkins - Junior |
Kamryn Matthews - Hillsdale - Sophomore |