INDIANAPOLIS- Three of the four major Great Lakes Valley Conference individual awards went to Greyhounds at the 2019 GLVC Men's and Women's Tennis Championship Banquet Thursday evening, while nine total UIndy tennis student-athletes were honored by the league at the event. 

Hanna Volikova was named the GLVC Women's Tennis Player of the Year, becoming the fifth player in the sport in GLVC history to win four major postseason awards, as she first was named 2016 GLVC Freshman of the Year and followed as Player of the Year in each of the last three seasons. She is the fifth Greyhound to earn the league's top honor, but her recognition marks the 11th time the merit has gone to a UIndy player. Volikova went a near-perfect 16-1 in dual matches at both singles and doubles with a perfect 5-0 mark in GLVC play this spring. The fourth-ranked singles player in Division II and top-ranked in the Midwest Region won the ITA Midwest Regional Championships at singles in September and finished as runner-up in doubles. This spring, Volikova also won dual matches against a pair of nationally-ranked foes. In addition to her top-five singles ranking, the product of Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, ranks 33rd with partner Maja Pindelska, playing at No. 2. She earned her sixth career GLVC Player of the Week award on Feb. 12 and was the only unanimous selection on the All-GLVC team.

Nikol Alexeeva, who was also an All-GLVC team selection, joins five other Greyhounds in program history as the top league freshman, following in the footsteps of last year's winner Alina Kislitskaya, Volikova, Pamela Rodriguez (1996), Janik Belisle (1997), and Gayal Jones (2000). Alexeeva was unblemished in dual matches this spring at 17-0, playing 11 at the No. 2 spot and six as the No. 1. In No. 1 doubles with Anna Novikova, the duo went 13-2. In GLVC matches, the newcomer was a perfect 5-0 at both singles and doubles. The duo ranks fifth in the nation and first in the Midwest, while Alexeeva is ninth in singles nationally and second regionally. In the September ITA Midwest Regional Championships, the Moscow, Russia, native finished runner-up in singles and won the doubles portion of the event with Novikova. She also won twice against nationally-ranked opponents this spring, was named GLVC Player of the Week on April 2, and is one of just three freshmen on the All-GLVC team.

For the Greyhound men, Maximilian Witthaus makes it two major freshman honors in a row for UIndy, as teammate Renato Lima was last year's selection for GLVC Freshman of the Year. The newcomer is the sixth Greyhound to earn the distinction, as Christoph Drechsler (2015), Nico Kastunowicz (2014), Marko Saulovic (2000), and Curt Baumgartner (1997) also were voted as such. In dual match singles play, Witthaus boasted a 10-3 record that included results from the No. 3, 4, 5, and 6 slots and went 4-1 in No. 3 doubles action with Nils Hoffacker. In GLVC action, the German was unbeaten in both singles (5-0) and doubles (4-0).

In addition to the individual award winners, Anya Novikova and Maja Pindelska were also named to the All-GLVC team, marking the first All-GLVC nod for each of the Greyhound newcomers.UIndy's four All-GLVC honorees tied for the most by a team in the league, as West Division #1 seed Drury also put four student-athletes on the team.  On the men's' side, the Greyhounds topped the most honored list with four on the All-GLVC team. Last year's GLVC Freshman of the Year Renato Lima earned his second All-GLVC accolade, and was joined by Dario Huber, Magnus Mueller and Nils Hoffacker on the all-league team. Huber earned his second All-GLVC honor, while Hoffacker is now a three-time All-GLVC honoree. Mueller made the All-GLVC listing for the first time this season.

Both Greyhound tennis teams open their hunt for a 2019 GLVC Tennis Championship Friday as the event host, with the women opening action versus Rockhurst at 9 a.m. at the UIndy Tennis Center, and the UIndy men starting their tournament at 1 p.m., also versus Rockhurst, at the UIndy Tennis Center. For more information on the tournament, please visit the GLVC Championship site here.



2019 WOMEN'S TENNIS GLVC HONOREES:
2019 GLVC Player of the Year: Hanna Volikova, Sr., Indianapolis
2019 GLVC Freshman of the Year: Nikol Alexeeva, Indianapolis
2019 GLVC Coach of the Year: Winner of Tournament

2019 ALL-GLVC WOMEN'S TENNIS POSTSEASON AWARDS
Ashley Jonathan, Jr., BU
Josephine Jedrychowski, Sr., DU
Yu-Ning Lee, Jr., DU
JiaQing Mo, So., DU
Viktoriya Zheleva, So., DU
Neha Mokhasi, UIS
Nikol Alexeeva, Fr., UINDY
Anya Novikova, Fr., UINDY
Maja Pindelska, Jr., UINDY
Hanna Volikova, Sr., UINDY #
Oana Carmen Trus, Sr., LEWIS
Tereza Pilzova, Jr., LEWIS
Nicole Pafundi, Fr., MU
Salome Bleuler, Sr., UMSL
Marina Prediger, Jr., UMSL
Sam Czarnecki, So., RU
#Unanimous selection

2019 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP NOMINEES
Aubrey Smith, BU
Yu-Ning Lee, DU
Kaitlyn Thornhill, UIS
Nikol Alexeeva, UINDY
Sarah Markun, LEWIS
Sandra Hinterberger, MU
Alex Tinnin, MCK
Leticia Lunge, UMSL
Makaela Hampton, QU
Sara Flaxbeard, RU
Lauren Hambrock, USI
Finessa Rassel, TSU
Caroline Lane, WJC
 
2019 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD
Southern Indiana

2019 MEN'S TENNIS GLVC HONOREES:
2019 GLVC Player of the Year: Nico Hadeler, Jr., Drury
2019 GLVC Freshman of the Year: Maximilian Witthaus, Fr., Indianapolis
2019 GLVC Coach of the Year: Winner of Tournament

2019 ALL-GLVC MEN'S TENNIS POSTSEASON AWARDS
Augustin Diot, So., DU
Nico Hadeler, Jr., DU #
Gregor Kokalj, So., DU
Sam Clarke, Sr., UIS
Nils Hoffacker, Gr., UINDY
Dario Huber, So., UINDY
Renato Lima, So., UINDY
Magnus Mueller, Sr., UINDY
Alan Braschinksy, Sr., LEWIS
Oskar Lusti, So., LEWIS
Jack Beuttell Triggs, So., MU
Louis Glaves, So., MU
Ben Kasprzak, Jr., UMSL
Vitor Monteiro, So., UMSL
Tarass Thevenaz, Sr., RU
Ilia Karelin, Sr., USI
#Unanimous selection

2019 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP NOMINEES
Gregor Kokalj, DU
Tomy Martinez, UIS
Matej Kostadinov, UINDY
Oscar Lusti, LEWIS
Fernando de Andres, MU
Kayser Khan, MCK
Adrian Lessing, UMSL
Brenden Everhart, QU
Masao Peret, RU
Parker Collignon, USI
Nick Thiele, TSU
Bjorn Myers, WJC

2019 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD
Quincy & Southern Indiana