April 16, 2003

Knoxville, Tenn. –

The 14th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team was rewarded for its excellent season on Wednesday when three players and Coach Mark Guilbeau received individual awards at a banquet to serve up this weekend’s Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament being played on the campus of Tennessee.

Nathalie Roels walked away with SEC Freshman of the Year honors. The Affligem, Belgium native had a spectacular year, posting a 30-14 singles record and 30-10 doubles record. Roels partnered with senior Sarah Witten early in the year and the duo was ranked as high as No. 7 nationally. Over the last two months, Roels partnered with senior Shannon Stafford and the two posted a record of 13-4 overall and 9-2 in conference play.

During the fall season, Roels burst onto the collegiate tennis scene winning the first six singles matches of her career, including the B-Flight singles title at the Lady Seminole Classic in Tallahassee, Fla. She also played in the ITA/Riviera All-American tournament and the ITA/Southeastern Regional Championship. Thanks to her accomplishments, she opened the spring season ranked No. 48 in singles by the ITA. In doubles, she and Witten won the June Stewart Fall Invitational title and earned a berth in the ITA/Southeast Regional Championships.

“This is very exciting for me,” Roels said. “I never expected to do this well when I came here. This has been an awesome year for me and hopefully will be an inspiration for the rest of my career.

“I couldn’t have done this without my coaches and my teammates. I like the individual success but if our team can go on to do well in the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament it will be much more special.”

Witten and fellow senior Amy Trefethen were selected All-SEC in doubles. The two have been paired together in doubles for the last two months and posted a 14-3 dual-match record at the No. 1 doubles position. They finished 8-2 in the SEC and were ranked as high as No. 8 in the country by the ITA. They finished the regular season with a huge victory over fourth-ranked Sarah Riske and Aleke Tsoubanos of Vanderbilt to clinch the doubles point in UK’s pivotal 4-3 victory over the Commodores on Saturday, Apr. 12. Witten was also selected All-SEC in singles. She finished the dual-match season with an 8-3 conference record and was ranked as high as No. 37 in the country. Witten finished the season winning nine consecutive singles matches including a win over No. 15 Riske in UK’s defeat of Vanderbilt.

For all the team’s success this season, Coach Mark Guilbeau was named SEC Coach of the Year as voted on by his peers inside the conference. Guilbeau led the Cats to a 20-6 overall record and a 9-2 conference record, finishing the year tied for second in the SEC and earning the team the third seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Guilbeau is in his seventh year as the head coach at Kentucky and has compiled a 106-69 record over that span. This year’s SEC finish was the highest for UK under Guilbeau’s guidance and this was the first SEC Coach of the Year award for UK women’s tennis.

“This award is possible only because of the commitment of this team and our staff,” Guilbeau said. “This is a testament to the hard work Assistant Coach Carlos Drada, manager Jonathan Thompson and everyone else put in to get this program to where it is today. I give this award to these players because they are the ones who earned it.”