DETROIT (4/24/13) – The UDM women's tennis team held its annual awards banquet on Friday at Dino's in Ferndale. Nino Sujashvili and Valery Kulikovskaya shared the MVP award while the pair of Chloe Karoub and Raina Halabi where named the Most Valuable Doubles Tandem. Julia Fernandes was the Most Improved Player, Irina Slizovskaya was the Unstoppable Newcomer and Elena Strakhova earned the Hardest Worker Award.
 
Co-MVP's
Kulikovskaya etched her name in Detroit's single season record book with 22 singles wins (t-5th) with 18 doubles wins (t-9th). Sujashvili has 17 wins on the year and was 4-1 in the Horizon League with a pair of wins coming at both first singles and second singles. In the fall, Sujashvili was 11-0 including three invitational victories.
 
Kulikovskaya is tied for the team lead with six conference wins, four at fifth singles and two at fourth singles. Kulikovskaya's year was highlighted by wins against UIC and a match-clinching victory against Milwaukee at fifth singles.
 
Most Valuable Doubles Tandem
The doubles pair of Chloe Karoub and Raina Halabi was a perfect 3-0 in Horizon League play and captured nine victories over the year. The tandem captured a key win against UIC to clinch the doubles point for the Titans and captured a match against Milwaukee to help Detroit complete a perfect season in Detroit.
 
Most Improved Player
Julia Fernandes captured five wins in the spring season but earned eight victories in dual match play. Fernandes captured four important wins for Detroit in HL action, with a three-set victory coming at second singles against Valpo and two straight-set wins coming at third singles against Green Bay and Wright State.
 
In doubles play Fernandes was 7-4 in both the spring and fall season with a pair of wins in Horizon League play. She defeated Cleveland State and Wright State at first doubles for the two conference wins.
 
Unstoppable Newcomer Award
Irina Slizovskaya earned 12 wins in her first semester for Detroit and tied for the team lead with six HL victories. She was 6-0 at fourth singles and 4-2 in the third slot. She earned a pair of wins at the first and second spot for the Titans. She played a big role for Detroit in snapping UIC's streak of 146-straight conference wins, taking third singles in three sets, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. She also helped UDM finish with a perfect home record with a victory at fourth singles against Milwaukee. She was nearly unstoppable in doubles play with a 13-2 record in the dual-match season. She was 7-0 (4-0 HL) at second doubles and had five wins in the third position.
 
Hardest Worker Award
Freshman Elena Strakhova earned the Hardest Worker award for Detroit after her 10-5 (4-2 HL) season at sixth singles. Her biggest win of the year came on the road against UIC when she clinched the match for UDM. After dropping the first set, 5-7, she battled back to take the next two, 6-3, 7-5, to break UIC's streak. She was a staple in the first doubles position for the Titans, going 8-5 on the year with a 3-2 mark in conference play.
 
Detroit will enter the Horizon League Championships as the #4 seed and will face #5 seed Youngstown State on Friday at 10:00 a.m. in Indianapolis