Teams: Women's Tennis: Press Releases

Thursday, May 1, 2008

MEGHAN McCOOEY, JULIA BROWNE HONORED FROM WOMEN'S TENNIS BY NESCAC

MEDFORD -- The Tufts University women's tennis team, which is making its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, had two of its young players receive honors when the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) announced its annual awards for the sport on Wednesday. Sophomore Meghan McCooey (Cumberland, RI) was named to the All-Conference First Team and first-year Julia Browne (Old Brookville, NY) was voted NESCAC Rookie of the Year and to the Second Team.

McCooey is one of nine NESCAC players named First Team. She will finish off an outstanding sophomore season by playing in the NCAA Singles Championships May 16-18 at Gustavus Adolphus College's Swanson Tennis Center in Saint Peter, Minnesota. McCooey has emerged as one of the top players in the region this spring after a solid freshman campaign last year. She enters the team's NCAA Tournament first round match against Roger Williams University on Friday at Williams College with an 18-7 record overall for the year, including 8-2 in matches against NESCAC teams. She had a victory over Bowdoin College's Kristen Raymond in the #2 spot, then moved up to #1 later in the season and defeated Trinity College' Brenna Driscoll, both national top 50 players at the time.

Browne is the only first-year player among the 20 selected overall for the two All-NESCAC teams. She had just one loss against a NESCAC opponent in the spring, and it was a good one. She went three sets against Conference Player of the Year Brittany Berkes of Amherst and lost a third-set tie-breaker 7-6(4). Her only other NESCAC loss was to Williams College's Lucy Marchese in three sets during the fall season. Selected as an alternate for NCAA Singles play, Browne has a 14-6 singles record entering the NCAA's.

In the latest team and individual rankings announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), Tufts is the #11 team nationally and #4 in the Northeast Region behind Amherst, Williams and Wellesley. The team has an 11-6 overall record after advancing into the NESCAC Tournament semi-finals and losing to Amherst last Saturday (Apr. 26). McCooey is rated #8 in the Northeast for singles and Browne is 10th in the ITA rankings released on April 29. The NESCAC honor is the first for both of them.

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