FRISCO, Texas - Laurie Barendse of New Orleans was named the 2024 Southland Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced Monday.
Barendse carried a 3.87 GPA in the classroom, as a Business Management major. She claimed SLC Second Team at No. 1 Singles and SLC Second Team at No. 2 Doubles with her partner Ksenia Reznitskaya. Barendse finished with a 10-2 record in singles and a 11-3 record in doubles, having a doubles win against Mississippi State.
She went 6-1 against conference opponents in the regular season, picking up a win against the SLC Player of the Year.
Conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi headlined the team with five honorees and McNeese with four student-athletes recognized. New Orleans, Incarnate Word and NJIT earned the remaining spots with each having two selections. First team all-conference players who met the academic qualifications are automatically selected to the team.
The all-academic team is voted on by a head coach, sports information director and an academic/compliance staff member from each Southland Conference institution. Student-athletes must possess a 3.25 cumulative GPA and completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify for All-Academic selection. Student-Athlete of the Year nominees must have earned at least a 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
Student-Athlete of the Year: Laurie Barendse, New Orleans
All-Academic First Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| Sofia Franco Salcedo* |
UIW |
Sr. |
Pereira, Risaralda, Columbia |
3.85 |
Biology |
| Ine Lamprecht* |
UIW |
So. |
Pretoria, South Africa |
3.93 |
Business Administration Accounting |
| Aina Domingo-Bernabeu* |
McNeese |
Sr. |
Barcelona, Spain |
3.70 |
Health and Human Performance |
| Tiana Fox* |
McNeese |
Jr. |
Brighton, UK |
3.57 |
General Studies |
| Maria Wang Martinez* |
McNeese |
So. |
Girona, Spain |
3.62 |
General Business Adminstration |
| Emma Aucagne* |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
Saint-Fons, France |
3.98 |
Criminal Justice |
| Naomi Moi McKenzie* |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
Brisbane, Australia |
4.00 |
Criminal Justice |
| Valeria Cherfus* |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
Kharkiv, Ukraine |
3.96 |
Management Information Systems |
| Paline Saulevich* |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
So. |
Minsk, Belarus |
4.00 |
Marketing |
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All-Academic Second Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| Laurie Barendse |
New Orleans |
So. |
Pijnacker, Netherlands |
3.87 |
Business Management |
| Tristanne Dechoux |
New Orleans |
Sr. |
Phoenix, Ariz. |
3.83 |
Marketing |
| Paula Menendez |
NJIT |
So. |
Gijon, Spain |
3.84 |
Industrial Engineering |
| Shalom Salvi |
NJIT |
Sr. |
Modena, Italy |
3.93 |
Mathematical Sciences |
| Kateryna Rublevska |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
Kharkiv, Ukraine |
4.00 |
General Business |
| Emma-Lou Pommiers |
McNeese |
Gr. |
Aire-Sur-L'Adour, France |
3.75 |
Psychology |
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* First Team All-Conference, Automatic Selection
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