PDF of Release
Women's All-Conference Team
Men's All-Conference Team
OGDEN, Utah (April 26, 2012) – For the third straight year, Sacramento State’s Tatsiana Kapshai captured the Big Sky Conference women’s tennis MVP. Weber State’s Simon Unger captured the men’s MVP. Unger is the first Wildcat on the men’s side to claim the honor since 1988.
The All-Conference selections and individual awards were voted by the league’s head coaches and released by the league office on Thursday.
This is the 10th straight year a Sacramento State women’s player has been named MVP. Kapshai, a native of Minsk, Belarus, is 15-11 overall at No. 1 singles and went undefeated in conference play for the fourth straight year. She helped the Hornets (17-9) to their 11th straight Big Sky Championship last weekend. Sacramento State will represent the Big Sky in the NCAA Championship beginning in three weeks.
Kapshai is one of three Hornets named to the league’s first team. These Hornets are all three-time first-team selections. Kapshai is joined by senior Clarisse Baca and junior Rebeca Delgado, who both went undefeated in league play. Kapshai and Delgado teamed up at No. 1 doubles. The pair is currently ranked nationally at No. 70 and post a 17-5 doubles record.
Sacramento State has won 92 straight matches over conference opponents, including last weekend’s championship matches.
Northern Arizona junior Ghizelene Doballah and freshman Hannah Stone were named to the first team, along with Montana junior Heather Davidson and Grizzly freshman Laurence Pelchat.
Montana State junior Charlotta Hjalmarssan rounded out the first team after a 6-11 overall record at No. 1 singles and a 5-3 conference record.
Unger, a senior from Moenchengladbach, Germany, was named to the first-team for the fourth straight season. Unger went 7-1 in conference and has a 17-6 overall record at No. 1 singles. Unger paired up with teammate Oliver Good at No. 1 doubles and finished the season with a 17-5 overall record.
Unger was the only Wildcat to be named to the All-Conference Team. Weber State went 9-13 overall and 5-3 in conference.
Unger was joined on the first team by Big Sky Champion Sacramento State junior Aliaksandr Malko and freshman Marek Marksoo.
Montana, the regular-season champions, had a trio of first-teamers in Ethan Vaughn, Mikolaj Caruk and Mike Facey. This was the first season in school history that Montana has gone undefeated in regular-season conference play.
Rounding out the men’s first-team were Eastern Washington sophomore Ilija Cuic and Montana State freshman Niklas Brandes.