Five Chants Named All-Sun Belt
4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Five members of the Coastal Carolina women's tennis team received Sun Belt All-Conference recognition as the league announced its postseason award winners on Wednesday.
Iryna Vardanian led the group, earning Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year, first team singles and first team doubles honors. Vardanian's doubles partner, Natalie Wall, was the second half of the first team doubles recognition. Also earning first team doubles all-conference honors were the duo of Sara Bondar and Somer Dalla-Bona. Rounding out the group of Chanticleer award winners was Rylie Cox, voted second team all-conference in singles.
A junior transfer from Northwestern State, Vardanian posted records of 12-8 in singles and 12-7 in doubles this spring. In her first season wearing teal, Vardanian played all but six matches on the first singles court, where she went 8-6. Her dominant singles play included a seven-match winning streak that stretched from March 6 â€" April 5. Vardanian also played well in doubles, spending the majority of the spring at No. 2 where she accumulated an 8-4 record.
As a pair, Vardanian and Wall finished the regular season 7-1. The duo won six straight matches when first paired, not suffering a loss until their seventh match against Sun Belt opponent South Alabama.
Bondar and Dalla-Bona played nearly every match together, leading all Coastal duos with 10 wins and just six losses. The pair played the No. 1 position in all but one its 16 matches, finishing with a 10-5 record on the top court. After starting the season with just one win in five matches played together, Bondar and Dalla-Bona won seven of 10 matches before closing the season with three straight victories at No. 1.
Cox, who was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year in 2017, led Coastal in singles wins this season with 15 in 20 appearances. The sophomore split time evenly on the top three singles courts, going 5-1 on the first, 5-2 on the second and 4-2 on the third. She also added a No. 4 victory midway through the season.
Coastal makes its second appearance in the Sun Belt Championship this week as the third seed. The Chants earned a first-round bye, and will face the winner of the first round match between No. 6 ULM and No. 11 Arkansas State at 11:30 a.m. on Friday.
