BATON ROUGE – LSU women’s tennis co-head coaches Julia Sell and Michael Sell along with freshman Jessica Golovin and sophomore transfer Ryann Foster earned honors in the annual Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association All-Louisiana women’s tennis teams.
The Sells directed LSU to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year and took the Lady Tigers to the highest ranking in school history at nine. LSU had a win in the ITA Team Indoor Championships against No. 10 Oklahoma State, just the fifth top 10 win for the program in the last 24 seasons.
New York native Jessica Golovin, the second blue chip recruit in school history, earned Freshman of the Year honors. Golovin reached the second round of the NCAA Singles Championships and was named to the All-SEC freshman team.
Sophomore Ryann Foster was named the Newcomer of the Year in the state in her first season in Baton Rouge. The Sunrise, Florida native earned singles wins over players form No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Michigan at ITA Team Indoor Championships.
In addition to the top honors in the state, Abby Owens was named to the first team All-Louisiana and Skylar Kuykendall was named to the second team.
Owens became the 16th player in school history to reach the 30-win mark in a single season with a record of 32-8 overall. The junior finished with a record of 11-1 in SEC play, including an 11-0 mark on court five.
The reigning LSWA Newcomer of the Year, Kuykendall provided senior leadership with a mark of 22-16 overall and 6-5 in conference. The senior clinched four victories over ranked opponents for the Lady Tigers this season.
This season, the LSU women’s tennis team finished with a record of 19-12 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Lady Tigers return five players and welcome the top class in the country for the 2016-17 season in Baton Rouge.
For more information on the program, follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.
LSWA All-Louisiana Women’s Tennis
First Team
Jessica Golovin, LSU
Abby Owens, LSU
Alexandra Starkova, Louisiana Tech
Joana Vale Costa, LSU
Renee Villarreal, Southeastern
Player of the Year
Renee Villarreal, Southeastern
Freshman of the Year
Jessica Golovin, LSU
Newcomer of the Year
Ryann Foster, LSU
Coach of the Year
(Tie) Chad Camper, Louisiana Tech; and, Julia & Michael Sell, LSU
Second Team All-Louisiana Women’s Tennis
Ryann Foster, LSU
Charlene Goreau, Xavier
Polina Ivanoa, Northwestern State
Sarah Jurakova, McNeese
Natalya Krutova, Northwestern State
Skyler Kuykendall,LSU
Tiffany Mylonas, ULM