Berkenbrock Named A-Sun Player of the Year, Puebla Earns Coaching Honor
4/14/2010 7:42:48 PM | Women's Tennis
MACON, Ga. – Sophomore Aline Berkenbrock was named the 2010 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year while Rodrigo Puebla was named the Coach of the Year as announced on Wednesday by the league office. Senior Raquel Castro and sophomore transfer Danielle Day earned second team all-conference honors and freshman Melanie Aguirre was named to the all-freshman team.
Berkenbrock earned Player of the Year honors after going a perfect 20-0 in dual singles matches on the season. She claimed wins against ranked players from ETSU, UCF and Purdue. As well as picking up wins against the No.1 players from nationally ranked teams, Stetson and College of Charleston. In doubles, she, along with partner Raquel Castro, have tallied a 21-7 mark on the season dating back to fall tournament play. The duo went 10-0 in A-Sun action and had wins over No. 37 duo of Valentinia Galbarini and Carolina de los Santos from Stetson as well as CofC's No. 31 ranked pair of Holly Dowse and Emma Hayman. Berkenbrock also earned a place on the Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team.
“I am happy that Aline earned this award,” Puebla said. “She had a great season and to be recognized by the rest of the league is a tremendous honor. To go undefeated during the regular season is a great accomplishment.”
Puebla was named the Coach of the Year after leading the team to a nearly flawless mark of 18-2. UNF achieved its first national ranking since beginning the transition to NCAA Division I status and are currently No. 64 in the latest ITA rankings. In their first season of postseason eligibility, the Ospreys earned the No. 2 seed for the Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Tennis Championship. The two losses this season came at the hands of nonconference opponent, No. 65 College of Charleston who edged UNF 4-3 and a 5-2 loss to A-Sun regular season champions No. 70 ETSU.
“It is a great feeling to be honored by your fellow coaches, but we would not have had as great of a season without the hard work of our team,” said Puebla. “I also owe a lot of our success to my assistant coach, Ronnie Sang. He did an excellent job stepping in this season and has been a tremendous asset to our program this year.”
Castro has tallied a 15-4 mark in singles on the season, playing primarily at No. 2. She teamed up with Berkenbrock in doubles as the duo had a 21-7 mark on the season, dating back to fall tournaments. The pair had a perfect 10-0 record in the Atlantic Sun. In addition to wins over ranked conference pairs, the duo had wins over the No. 1 doubles pairs from No. 42 Purdue, No. 15 USF and No. 70 Charleston Southern.
Day had a 19-4 singles record on the season, including 17-3 in duals. She went 16-2 at No. 3 and appeared in two matches at No. 2 where she split results. In doubles she had a 14-7 overall record, but teamed up with Aguirre later in the season and the pair tallied a 9-3 record. The pair went 6-2 in the A-Sun at No. 2.
Aguirre had a 17-9 overall record, including an 11-4 mark at No. 5 singles. She had a 12-5 record at doubles and went 9-3 with partner Day at the No. 2. The pair went 6-2 in A-Sun action and had wins over No. 15 USF's Natalia Guevara and Jessica Zok and No. 42 Purdue's Bhavani Tirumuriti and Imogen Golder.
“I am proud of how hard Melanie, Raquel and Danielle played this season,” Puebla said. “They, along with Aline, Lauren Holton and Victoria Krook, were major contributors to our success. All three of these ladies are very deserving of the recognition and it is nice to have so many members of our team honored by the league.”
The Ospreys will be in action at the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Tennis Championship on Friday, April 16 at 2 p.m. With the No. 2 seed in the tournament, UNF has a first round bye and will face the winner of No. 3 Stetson vs. No. 6 Mercer which will be played at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 15. All matches will be played in DeLand, Fla. at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center on the campus of Stetson University.
