ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF women's tennis team saw four Knights make the American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team, as well as earning a Player of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards.
Valeriya Zeleva was unanimously names as the conference's Player of the Year and has earned the award in back-to-back seasons. She is the only Knight to earn The American's Player of the Year honor; her 2019 nod was the first conference player of the year award earned by a UCF player since Emmanuelle Sauze won it in 2002 in the ASUN.
Bryan Koniecko was named as The American's Coach of the year for the third straight season. He has helped pilot the Knights to their highest ranking in program history over the last three seasons and to two straight conference titles. He is the first UCF head coach to win the Coach of the Year honor three times, breaking his tie for two with Gail Falkenberg (1997-98) and Patricia Allison (2000-02). Koniecko, Falkenberg and Allison are the only three head coaches in the program's history to win a Coach of the Year nod.
A record four Knights were listed on the American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team. Rebeka Stolmar, Ksenia Kuznetsova, Evgeniya Levashova and Zeleva all received nods to the squad. Stolmar and Zeleva were unanimously voted to be part of the team.
Stolmar is the first Knight in program history to receive three career nods to the All-Conference Team. She earned her first honor in 2018 before following that season up with another All-Conference worthy season in 2019. Her efforts as the team's captain showed on and off the court, earning her another nod to the team this season.
Zeleva and Kuznetsova both earn their second trip to the All-Conference Team after being named to the squad in 2019. Levashova's season landed her on The American's All-Conference Team for the first time in her career. It's not her first All-Conference nod though as she was named to the All-WCC Singles First Team and All-WCC Doubles Second Team in her freshman campaign with Pepperdine.
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