Gbaguidi Highlights Women’s Tennis Postseason Honors
Donnie Smith
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.—Undefeated regular season champion SCAD brought home a majority of The Sun Conference’s postseason women’s tennis awards. The list of recipients was announced at Wednesday evening’s conference tournament banquet.
SCAD sophomore Camille Gbaguidi was named the Player of the Year, and teamed with Paige Murdock to earn Doubles Team of the Year. The sophomore from Berlin, Germany went a perfect 14-0 at #1 singles this season, and was 15-0 at #1 doubles with Murdock. She is currently ranked second in the ITA NAIA Women’s Singles rankings, and her and Murdock are the No. 5 doubles team in the ITA NAIA rankings.
After guiding the Bees to a 14-1 season, with its only loss to NCAA Division I Presbyterian, coach Reinaldo Valor was named Coach of the Year. SCAD is currently ranked fourth in the NAIA, and has now won back-to-back regular season titles.
The Bees also placed four players on the First Team All-Sun Conference list, and an additional player on the second team. In addition to Gbaguidi and Murdock, Julia Albuquerque and Karina Rovira earned first team honors, and Daniella Arcila was selected to the second team.
Additional first team selections were Southeastern’s Alexis Quinn, Warner’s Nhatalia Ocampo, and St. Thomas’ Ksenia Slavina.
For the third straight season, Quinn was named the league’s Champion of Character for her continuing work with her ‘Kool 2 B Kind’ foundation. Quinn started the anti-bullying movement as a freshman, going to different elementary and middle schools to spend time with students and discuss the dangers of bullying. This marks the seventh straight season the Champion of Character has been awarded to a Southeastern player.
Thirteen student-athletes were named Academic All-Sun Conference. To be eligible, an athlete must have a GPA of 3.5, be a sophomore, and have completed two semesters at their institution. Southeastern led the academic selections with a league-best four players named to the team.
Player of the Year
Camille Gbaguidi, SCAD
Doubles Team of the Year
Camille Gbaguidi & Paige Murdock, SCAD
Coach of the Year
Reinaldo Valor, SCAD
Champion of Character
Alexis Quinn, Southeastern
First Team All-Conference
Camille Gbaguidi, SCAD
Paige Murdock, SCAD
Julia Albuquerque, SCAD
Nhatalia Ocampo, Warner
Alexis Quinn, Southeastern
Karina Rovira, SCAD
Ksenia Slavina, St. Thomas
Second Team All-Conference
Teodora Stanciu, Keiser
Daniella Arcila, SCAD
Ana Pinto, Keiser
Kelsi Black, Southeastern
Livia Toth, Keiser
Lola Garcia, Keiser
Academic All-Sun Conference
Deborah Farley, Ave Maria
Alexandra Lis Planells Ave Maria
Mary Kathryn Lee, Ave Maria
Anastasia Castro, SCAD Savannah
Camille Gbaguidi, SCAD Savannah
Isadora Salvetti, SCAD Savannah
Kelsi Black, Southeastern
Melanie Dodd, Southeastern
Alexis Quinn, Southeastern
Madeline Willis, Southeastern
Naomi Maehama, St. Thomas
Fernanda Guihaume Correa, Warner
Chandler Reed, Webber International