Tennis Sweeps Northeast Conference Post-Season Honors; Loose Selected Player of the Year

5/22/06 -- In her first and only year of competition in the Northeast Conference, senior Jessica Loose (Scheessel, Germany) took home the league’s top prize - NEC Player of the Year - in a postseason ballot of league coaches.

A transfer from Eastern Michigan University, Loose was a key addition to the Blackbirds squad this season. She took over the No. 1 singles slot and ended her campaign with a 16-11 mark. She was one of just three players to go undefeated on the conference circuit with a 6-0 record.

An NEC Player of the Week selection earlier this year, Loose posted two victories at the 2006 NEC Tournament, including a 6-4, 6-0 win over Quinnipiac’s Gabby Pasternak, the 2005 NEC Player of the Year. Loose was also selected to the All-NEC first team at No. 1 singles.

Freshman Ashley Harvey (Randallstown, Md.) was named the league's Rookie of the Year after compiling a 23-4 singles record at primarily the No. 4 singles spot. Harvey took the league by storm in her rookie campaign, tallying a league-high 23 wins while posting a league-best .852 winning percentage. She also went undefeated in six matches in conference competition. The first-year player posted a 13-match winning streak and notched wins over opponents from Eastern Kentucky, UConn and UMass. A Randallstown, Md. product, Harvey was named to the all-conference first team at No. 4 singles.

Head coach Asi Phillips, also in his first season on the Brooklyn campus, was named the NEC Coach of the Year after leading the Blackbirds to a 12-10 record and a 5-1 mark in conference. The 2000 Mount St. Mary’s graduate guided LIU to the championship match of the NEC Tournament, where the Blackbirds fell 4-3 to Quinnipiac in a four hour, 50 minute classic.

Also being named to the All-NEC first team was junior Merve Koksal (Ankara, Turkey). After garnering second team accolades the previous two years, Koksal posted a 15-8 record and a 6-1 mark against league foes to earn first-team accolades. The Turkey native avenged her lone league loss to Sacred Heart’s Pam Pillo with a 6-2, 6-2 win in the NEC Tournament.

Two Blackbirds were named to the league's second team in singles. Senior Krystina Bachner (Penfield, N.Y.) earned her fourth consecutive second team nomination, this time at No. 3 singles. She went 12-11 in singles action, including 5-1 in league action. Classmate Claudia Arteaga (Cali, Colombia) was the other second team honoree. Previously a second-team selection at No. 4 singles, she finished her campaign with a 10-6 record at the sixth singles slot, including 2-1 against league opponents

Loose and Bachner were also named to the second team in doubles after going undefeated in six matches on the year, including a 4-0 ledger in the NEC.