Startseva Named Little East Women's Tennis Player and Rookie of the Year, Allaire Earns First Team Honors

PAWTUCKET, R.I. – Salem State University's Anastasia Startseva (Volgograd, Russia) has been named the 2018 Little East Conference (LEC) Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, while teammate Maddie Allaire (Columbus, Ohio) earned first team, all-confernece singles and doubles honors.  

A junior in her first year of collegiate eligibility, Startseva went undefeated at the No. 1 singles position in conference (9-0) and finished the 2018 campaign with a singles record of 14-1, winning her final 13 matches in a row in addition to going 13-2 in doubles play, which included a 12-1 record at No. 1. Startseva helped lead the Vikings to a 9-6 overall record, a third-place finish in the conference standings and a berth in the LEC semifinals after the team won just two matches a year ago.

Allaire was named to the first team for both singles and doubles after going 12-1 from the No. 2 singles position, which included an 11- match unbeaten streak. Allaire also went 11-3 at doubles, playing at both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, and touted a 6-1 record teaming with Startseva at No. 1. 

Rhode Island College head coach Adam Spring was once again named the LEC Coach of the Year. The announcement was made by the league office following of vote of its 10 head coaches.

Spring was named the LEC Coach of the Year for the second straight year after leading the Anchorwomen to an undefeated regular season and the 2018 Little East Regular Season title for the second consecutive year. The Anchorwomen went on to capture their second LEC tournament championship while improving their record to 17-0 this season. This marks the fourth LEC Coach of the Year honor for Spring since first receiving the award in 2013.

The 2018 LEC All-Conference teams are listed below.