April 29, 2010

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - Illinois senior Megan Fudge was selected to the 2010 All-Big Ten Team announced Thursday evening by the conference office. The Kaarst, Germany, native is just the second Illini women's tennis player ever to earn All-Big Ten honors in each of her four seasons at Illinois, as Jennifer McGaffigan also accomplished the feat from 2000-04. It also marks the 10th-straight year the Illini have had at least one All-Big Ten honoree. Illinois finished third in the Big Ten with an 8-2 mark and 14-8 overall.

Fudge finished with a record of 8-2 in the Big Ten at No. 1 singles and led the team with three wins over nationally ranked opponents. She went 7-3 in doubles, tallying six with junior Leigh Finnegan at Nos. 1-2 and also picked up a win at No. 3 with sophomore Chelcie Abajian. Fudge checked in at No. 91 in singles in this week's Campbell's/ITA national rankings as the lone Illini in the poll and ranked No. 73 in doubles with Finnegan. She ended the regular season with a team-high 23 overall singles wins to bring her career total to 97. She is just seven away from tying Lindsey Nimmo for second in school history.

Big Ten Champion Michigan swept the top individual honors, as Denise Muresan was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year, Mimi Nguyen garnered Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and Ronni Bernstein was selected Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Junior Marisa Lambropoulos also was named Illinois' Big Ten Sportmanship Award honoree. The 11 student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.

The No. 3-seeded Illini open play at the Big Ten Tournament on Friday against sixth-seeded Purdue at 2 p.m. CT.

All-Big Ten Team*
Megan Fudge, ILL
Leslie Hureau, IND
Evgeniya Vertesheva, IND
Sonja Molnar, IOWA
Denise Muresan, MICH
Mimi Nguyen, MICH
Whitney Taney, MICH
Alessandra Ferrazzi, MINN
Lauren Lui, NU
Maria Mosolova, NU
Samantha Murray, NU
Kirsten Flower, OSU
Jennifer Rabot, PUR

*13 due to tie

Athlete of the Year
Denise Muresan, MICH

Freshman of the Year
Mimi Nguyen, MICH

Coach of the Year
Ronni Bernstein, MICH

Sportsmanship Honorees
Marisa Lambropoulos, ILL
Lindsey Stuckey, IND
Kelcie Klockenga, IOWA
Kari Wig, MICH
Whitney Wilson, MSU
Peta Forsyth, MINN
Lauren Lui, NU
Christina Keesey, OSU
Sarah Henderson, PSU
Jennifer Rabot, PUR
Angela Chupa, WIS