CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg's Gabrielle LeGendre (East Stroudsburg, Pa. / Notre Dame) is the North Eastern Athletic Conference's (NEAC) Women's Tennis Player of the Year. The sophomore earned the moniker by winning the league's individual championship on Sunday, Apr. 28. In addition to LeGendre's accomplishment, senior Theodora Avramidis (Glenwood, N.J. / Vernon Township) made the NEAC all-conference second-team while freshman Amanda Herr (Manheim, Pa. / Manheim Central) earned third-team all-conference honors.
LeGendre, the Blue & White's number one singles player, defeated Penn State Abington's Jenny Abraham 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinal round before knocking off the conference's top-seeded singles player in Penn State Berks' Crystal Hitz 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Her victory secured her the title of Player of the Year and earned her a place on the NEAC's all-conference first team.
Avramidis, the league's top-seeded number two singles player, defeated Lancaster Bible's Kayla Nachtigal 6-0, 6-4 in her first round matchup before falling to Penn State Berks' Elizabeth Kehm 6-1, 6-2 in the championship match. Her runner up finish earned her a spot on the league's all-conference second-team.
Herr was the NEAC's lowest-seeded player in the number four singles bracket but that didn't stop her from turning in one of her most hard-fought efforts of the season. She fell to number one seeded Allison Monkman from Penn State Berks 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the semifinal round before taking down third-ranked Evgenia Nigay from Penn State Abington in another close match 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 and 10-7. Her performance earned her third-team all-conference honors.
LeGendre and Avramidis also earned a spot on the NEAC all-conference third-team as a doubles team. The pair was the league's number one overall seed but fell in the semifinal round to Berks' top team of Hitz and Kehm in a tightly contested 9-7 match. The duo bounced back nicely in the consolation matchup, defeating Abington's Abraham and Alexandra Murianka easily by an 8-0 margin.
In addition to LeGendre winning the conference's Player of the Year title, Penn State Berks' Scott Yarnell was voted NEAC Coach of the Year by his peers while Ayumi Takeuchi of Wells was voted NEAC Rookie of the Year.