BATON ROUGE — Three LSU women’s tennis players were named All-Louisiana on Monday as the Lady Tigers’ Rocio Fantilli earned First-Team honors and freshmen Camila Caliari and Marina Chiarelli were named to the Second Team by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
“I’m extremely proud of not only these three players, but of our entire team and how they competed this season,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We had a very young team, but they never gave up and they matured as the season went on. Rocio did a great job for us from a leadership standpoint and both Camila and Marina excelled as freshmen playing in the SEC.”
Fantilli, the Lady Tigers’ junior captain from Puerto Madryn, Argentina, earned the first All-Louisiana honor of her career on Monday after she led LSU to its ninth-consecutive NCAA Tournament and a second-place finish in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division. The Lady Tigers’ No. 1 singles player ended the season with a 16-20 overall record and a 17-12 mark in doubles play.
LSU’s Brazilian combo comprised of Caliari and Chiarelli were each named Second-Team All-Louisiana on Monday.
Caliari, a native of Maringa, Brazil, posted a 15-12 overall record on the season including a stellar 8-4 mark while playing at the No. 6 singles position. Despite competing in only three open matches, Caliari finished the year fourth on the team in singles victories and added an 11-8 record in doubles play.
“Our freshmen really stepped up for us this season,” Minnis said. “Coming into the year, we really weren’t sure how good we were going to be, but every one of our freshmen stepped up and helped us have another successful year. We’re very optimistic about the future and I think that we can achieve some extremely lofty goals.”
The Lady Tigers’ Chiarelli ended the 2002-03 season with a 20-14 overall record and led the team in singles victories as a freshman.
She played primarily the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions and finished the year with a 14-10 dual-match record. Chiarelli also proved that she can beat some of the nation’s best competition as the native of Curitiba, Brazil, notched a vital 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Tulane’s 71st-ranked Erika Valdes.
Tulane swept the women’s awards on Monday as the Green Wave’s David Schumacher was named the Louisiana Coach of the Year and Jenny Kuhn garnered both the Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors.
All-Louisiana Women’s Tennis Team
First Team
Diana Espinal, UL-Monroe
Rocio Fantilli, LSU
Jenny Kuhn, Tulane
Ana Saaibi, Tulane
Anja Schmidt, Centenary
Julie Smekodub, Tulane
Second Team
Kelly Bucewicz, UL-Monroe
Camila Caliari, LSU
Marina Chiarelli, LSU
Zamambo Mkhize, UL-Monroe
Matilde Taborda, UL-Monroe
Erika Valdes, Tulane
Coach of the Year: David Schumacher, Tulane
Player of the Year: Jenny Kuhn, Tulane
Freshman of the Year: Jenny Kuhn, Tulane