Abanda Nets SSC Women's Tennis Player of Week

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry freshman Elisabeth Abanda won the final Sunshine State Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week honor, presented by VALIC.

Abanda (Montreal, Quebec) helped the No. 2 Buccaneers (21-0) complete an undefeated regular-season with an 8-1 SSC victory over No. 8 Lynn. Abanda, who is ranked No. 28 in NCAA Division II singles, beat Lynn's No. 4-ranked Valentine Confalonieri, 6-4, 6-3, in the top singles flight. She also teamed with Emma Onila, with whom she forms the No. 11-ranked doubles pair in the country, for an 8-5 top-flight win over the No. 3-ranked duo of Confalonieri and Ioana Ivan. On Saturday, although the full match was rained out, Abanda and Onila also put together an 8-4 No. 1 doubles win over NAIA No. 17 St. Thomas' Tetiana Kovalska and Bridget Bustamante.

"I like the way I played because I was aggressive, staying in the point and being patient," Abanda said. "I'm happy that I was able to get the recognition. It's nice when people give credit when credit is due. It's an honor, and I feel like I deserved it."

Abanda won the season's first Player of the Week honor, and put a bow on the end of the regular season with the last weekly award.

"I would've liked to have played better during the middle of the season because that would have meant I had a good season from start to finish," she said. "But I'm motivated to keep working hard and playing well during the postseason."

For more than half a century, VALIC has served as a leading retirement plan provider for higher education, as well as for K-12 schools and school districts, healthcare, government and other not-for-profit institutions. VALIC has more than $65 billion in total assets under management and manages plans for nearly 25,000 groups serving nearly two million plan participants. VALIC represents The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc., and VALIC Retirement Services Company.