FARMINGTON, Utah (May 9, 2022) – For the third consecutive time, five different members of the Northern Arizona women's tennis team landed postseason honors from the Big Sky Conference.
In addition to four All-Big Sky First Team Honors, one Second Team honor and one Honorable Mention for the roster,
Gina Dittmann became Northern Arizona's first ever two-time Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player.
Dittmann, also the only Big Sky Player to earn First Team honors in both singles and doubles, finished the regular season on a 15-match win streak in singles play. Holding a 16-2 singles record in her sophomore season, Dittmann's only two losses came in matches against Pac-12 opponents Arizona State and Arizona. In her season finale for the Lumberjacks, Dittmann once again earned a first-set victory over a nationally ranked opponent in the NCAA Tournament. Beating Cal's Haley Giavara, ranked No. 63 in the ITA Singles Rankings, 6-4 in her first set, Dittmann left her match unfinished and her winning streak intact.
Alongside
Ava Neyestani, Dittmann also finished 12-1 in doubles with the team's only loss coming in the NCAA Tournament to Cal's No. 90-ranked doubles pairing of Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm. Dittmann's full season doubles record finished at 13-5, with she and Neyetani now ranking atop Northern Arizona's all-time doubles win percentage list. The two honors make it four total between singles and doubles through Dittmann's two seasons with the Lumberjacks, in addition to her pair of MVP awards and her Freshman of the Year honor.
Along with her award last season and Chiara Tomasetti's in 2019, Northern Arizona has won the past three MVP awards and now six in program history joining Yvonne de Waal (2002), Vickie Gunnarsson (1999) and Yael Stuart (1998).
Joining Dittmann on the Big Sky's First Team for singles is
Sofia Markova, who earned her first career Big Sky honor in her debut season with the program. Finishing 13-4 overall in singles, Markova closed her season on an 11-match win streak. The sophomore finished 3-1 at No. 2, 9-2 at No. 3 and 1-1 at No. 4 in her first season, with the win streak including all three of her wins on Court 2.
Finishing her junior season 7-4 in singles and 5-5 in doubles,
Mimi Bland landed All-Big Sky Second Team honors in singles and another First Team honor in doubles. Battling through injuries throughout the year, Bland still finished the conference schedule 4-1 in singles play with all five matches coming on Court 2. Paired with freshman
Annabel Davis in doubles, Bland earned a 5-3 record with all eight matches at Court 1. Davis joined her doubles partner from their juniors careers in England in Flagstaff this season, with the two first reuniting on the court in February against San Jose State before Bland returned during conference play. The pair of awards pushed Bland to four total during her career after landing on the First Team for both singles and doubles last season while it is the first for Davis.
With both pairing of Bland and Davis, as well as Dittmann and Neyestani, Northern Arizona became the first program to place two doubles teams on the Big Sky's First Team since the awards began to be split in 2017.
Neyestani rounded out the singles honors, earning Honorable Mention with a 10-8 record overall and a 7-1 mark in Big Sky play. Finishing 4-3 at No. 5 and 5-0 at No. 6, Neyestani's honor was the second of her career in singles after placing on the Second Team as a freshman last year and third overall alongside her First Team doubles honor with Dittmann.
It is the eighth time in program history that Northern Arizona has had five different honorees, with 2013's six still ranking as the most for a single season.
For a look at the complete list of All-Big Sky Conference honorees, click
here.
