April 24, 2008

Wednesday night's women's tennis banquet rounded out the 2007-08 campaign for the Dayton Flyers. First-year head coach Linda O'Keefe led the Flyers to eight spring victories, and handed out awards to four players at the banquet to commend her players for their efforts this year.

The Flyers increased their win total by two this year after a 6-19 mark in the year prior to O'Keefe's arrival. The squad's two seniors, Megan Gray and Allysa Detroy, played a large role in this improvement. O'Keefe recognized the duo on Wednesday by naming Gray and Detroy co-Most Valuable Players.

Gray and Detroy compiled nine doubles victories while playing together at No. 1. In addition, Gray was tied for the team lead in singles win with 12, all coming in the No. 3 position. Detroy anchored the lineup at No. 1 singles for the third year in a row.

Another experienced player, junior Nikki Dzubay, also played a key role in UD's everyday line-up, and was given the Coaches Award. Dzubay equaled Gray's win total of 12 while playing at No. 5 singles.

A host of newcomers also set the tone for future success under O'Keefe. This year's roster included four freshmen and one sophomore transfer, Molly Mathews from Niagara, that all saw significant playing time.

Leading the way among the newcomers was freshman Laina Grote, who was honored as the team's Most Improved Player. During the fall campaign, Grote went 0-3 in singles and 0-2 in doubles. However, she enjoyed success this spring by tallying nine victories at No. 2 singles. Grote won six of her first seven matches at No. 2 to start the year, and was twice named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week and once named A-10 Performer of the Week.

Detroy also earned the A-10 Performer of the Week honor on March 12.

It took five matches for O'Keefe to earn her first career Division I win, but the Flyers did it in style on Feb. 3 with a 7-0 sweep of IUPUI. After suffering a close 4-3 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the next match, Dayton pieced together back-to-back victories for the first time this year with wins over Green Bay and IPFW.

UD tallied its first conference win over St. Bonaventure on March 7 in a convincing 7-0 sweep.

In mid-March, the Flyers enjoyed good weather and good results on a spring break trip to Altamonte Springs, FL, where they won two out of three matches.

A 1-2 record at the Atlantic 10 Championship placed Dayton in a tie for 11th overall. However, Gray went out on a high note by going 2-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles in the tournament.