University of Richmond Athletics
Women's Tennis Grabs Post-Season Honors
05/01/2002 | Women's Tennis
May 1, 2002
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -- University of Richmond women's tennis coach Mark Wesselink was tabbed the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year as announced by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.
Wesselink guided the squad to its first-ever Atlantic 10 women's title in the Spiders first year as an all-sports member. Since his arrival at UR 13 years ago, Richmond has boasted 11 winning seasons including a 13-9 mark this season. Seeded first in the Tournament, the Spiders blew by the field blanking Fordham (4-0), Dayton (4-0) and Xavier (4-0) in route to the conference crown. Richmond went 6-0 against A-10 competition this season, winning those matches by a combined score of 25-1.
Three Richmond student-athletes were selected to the All-Conference team. They were junior Vanessa Bagnato (Manhasset, N.Y.), sophomore Jeanette Cluskey (Edina, Minn.) and freshman Lindsay Cox (Workingham Berks, England).
Bagnato posted an 18-11 record this season, winning 10 of her past 12 matches at the No. 2 position. Sophomore Cluskey tied for second in the A-10 with 19 wins, despite playing a difficult spring schedule at the No. 1 singles position. Cox in her first season at UR, registered victories in 11 of her past 14 matches at No. 3 singles in route to a 15-6 overall record.
Richmond's last trip to the NCAA championships came with back-to-back showings in 1997 and 1998. The NCAA Women's Tournament pairings will be announced Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m.
