SAN MARCOS, TX– The Sun Belt Conference announced Wednesday that league coaches named Texas State senior tennis player Hana Kvapilova the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and a First-Team All-Conference selection.
Kvapilova was the lone Sun Belt No 1 singles player to have an undefeated record in conference matches with a 6-0 record. She had wins against every school except Louisiana in the West Division during the regular season, and she clinched Texas State’s first-round victory in the Sun Belt Championship with her victory against Appalachian State.
Her regular-season wins came against Sun Belt regular-season champion UT Arlington, two different ULM players, and Arkansas State twice. She also led her match against Louisiana when play was suspended after the Ragin’ Cajuns clinched the team’s victory. She also led in two other contests against UTA, including in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Championship.
Kvapilova had a 13-1 overall record in No. 1 singles matches this season with wins against Texas Tech and North Texas in non-conference matches. Her lone loss in overall No. 1 matches came against No. 18 nationally-ranked singles player Anna Turati of No. 2-ranked Texas.
With the COVID Pandemic halting the 2019-20 season, the Sun Belt made first-year players from last year eligible for the Freshman and Newcomer of the Year awards. A junior college transfer, Kvapilova had a 2-0 record in No. 1 matches last season with wins against Stephen F. Austin and Incarnate Word before the season ended.
2021 WOMEN’S TENNIS ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE
Individual Awards
Coach of the Year – Sean McCaffrey, Georgia Southern
Player of the Year – Yu Fujioka, South Alabama
Player to Watch – Carla Pons, UT Arlington
Newcomer of the Year – Hana Kvapilova, Texas State
Freshman of the Year – Otoha Aoki, South Alabama
All-Conference First Team Singles
Yu Fujioka, South Alabama
Hana Kvapilova, Texas State
Somer Dalla-Bona, Coastal Carolina
Nadja Meier, Georgia Southern
Momoka Horiguchi, UT Arlington
Nikola Kohoutova, South Alabama
All-Conference First Team Doubles
Charlotte Van Diemen and Sophie Wagemaker, Georgia Southern
María José Zacarias and Ksenia Aleshina, App State
Otoha Aoki and Aina Domingo-Bernabeu, South Alabama
All-Conference Second Team Singles
Otoha Aoki, South Alabama
Carla Pons, UT Arlington
Victoire De Samucewicz, Coastal Carolina
Matea Mihaljevic, Troy
Floriane Picaut, Louisiana
Andreea Stanescu, Georgia State
All-Conference Second Team Doubles
Somer Dalla-Bona and Jessie Mount, Coastal Carolina
Nikola Kohoutova and Yu Fujioka, South Alabama
Floriane Picaut and Clara Mantaux, Louisiana
