MOBILE, Ala. — All seven members of Brenau University’s Golden Tigers tennis team received all-conference awards at an event prior to the first sets of Southern States Athletic Conference championship play in Mobile, Ala., on Friday, with senior Fatyha Berjane recognized as Player of the Year.
The SSAC also named Berjane – a business major from Casablanca, Morocco – to the All-Conference and Champions of Character team. Joining Berjane on the 2016 All-Conference squad are freshman Rebecca Pijls of Beek, Netherlands; sophomore Maya Mammetgulyyeva of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; and sophomore Patricia Recalde Pacua of Asuncion, Paraguay.
Pijls and first-year Golden Tiger Kirsten Dickins, from London, England, made the SSAC All-Freshman team.
The conference’s All-Academic squad includes Recalde, sophomore Paula Rives Palau of Barcelona, Spain, and senior Kelley Cohron of Buford, Georgia.
“It’s a huge deal to have Fatyha named SSAC player of the year, but additionally having every other player on the team honored as well makes it truly incredible,” said Mike Lochstampfor, the athletics director at Gainesville, Georgia-based Brenau. “To have such great representation all over, it really speaks volumes about the program.”
He attributes much of the team’s success this season to sixth-year Head Coach Andre Ferreira.
“He has done a tremendous job to bring them altogether,” Lochstampfor said. “He just has a way with athletes. He is very patient, methodical and discerning. He’s very deliberate about tailoring his coaching specific to the athlete.”
The No. 6 nationally ranked Golden Tigers began the conference championship play Friday with a 14-5 regular season record. The team, however, did go 8-1 in matchups against SSAC opponents, with their sole in-conference loss coming April 3 against Auburn University-Montgomery, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/4/391214/brenaus-fatyha-berjane-named-ssac-tennis-player-of-the-year