WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons College Head Women's Tennis Coach Bob Rauseo was named the 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year, while junior Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) and senior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) were each selected to the GNAC First Team for both singles and doubles. Seniors Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) and Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.)along with junior Ashley Pierce (Carver, Mass.) were all tabbed to the GNAC Second Team for singles play.
The Sharks have landed five honorees on the All-Conference team in each of the last three seasons.
Rauseo is named GNAC Coach of the Year for the fifth straight year and the eighth time in his career. The mentor directed the Sharks to their eighth consecutive conference crown and their 10th under his guidance. The squad posted a 6-0 mark in conference play and have turned in a perfect conference mark in eight straight campaigns. Simmons also extended its consecutive regular-season conference win streak to 58 in a row. Rauseo has posted a near perfect 100-2 (.980) record vs. GNAC opponents during his career as part of an overall mark of 150-62 (.708). The Sharks are currently 9-5 on the season and have earned a bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament for the ninth time under Rauseo's watch. Rauseo is in his 11th year with Simmons and is one of the most well-respected coaches on the college circuit. He currently serves on the ITA Division III Ranking Committee, as well as the NCAA Division III Regional Advisory Committee.
Reinhard earns First Team honors for the third straight season and has been named an All-Conference doubles player twice, including a Second Team selection with Cokely last year. Reinhard has posted a 21-8 combined record this season, including 14-4 in doubles action. The junior recorded a 4-2 record in singles play vs. GNAC foes and turned in a perfect 4-0 mark in league play with Cokely. The St. Thomas Aquinas graduate has played exclusively at first singles and number one doubles this season and was named the GNAC Player of the Week twice. Reinhard has won three straight singles matches and four doubles tilts in a row. The Co-Captain has not lost more than three games in a set in all but one of her singles victories this season.
For her career, the Psychology and Business major is 38-22 in doubles play and ranks fifth all-time at Simmons in doubles victories. She also has 56 lifetime combined wins to place ninth in program history and stands 10th with 28 singles victories. The league voted her the Rookie of the Year in 2013-14.
Cokely has been named to the First Team in singles play all four years with the Sharks and has earned Second Team accolades for doubles play as a first year and a junior, while being named to the First Team as a sophomore and senior. The senior has put together an impressive 24-6 combined record this year, including 10-2 in singles and 14-4 in doubles action, playing primarily at number two for singles and one for doubles with Reinhard. A Co-Captain for the second straight year, Cokely has won five singles contests without surrendering a game and has strung together six straight singles wins and four straight doubles victories, including a win over a tandem from Williams College, the number one ranked program in the nation. She suffered her first singles loss vs. a GNAC opponent earlier this season, falling in three sets to halt a 21-match win streak as part of a 26-1 mark vs. league foes. Cokely has also been selected as the GNAC Player of the Week this season.
The Haverhill High School product has won more matches than any player in Simmons history with 107 combined wins, 54 singles triumphs and 53 doubles victories. She is 107-52 (.673) for her career, including 54-20 (.729) in singles play. Cokely turned in a stellar first season in 2012-13 and was named the GNAC Rookie of the Year.
Crowley earns All-Conference accolades for the first time in her career. She made the move to third singles this season and went 6-0 in singles action and 7-1 in doubles play vs. GNAC opponents. The senior is a combined 15-9 on the season, including 7-4 in singles contests. The Reading Memorial High School graduate has won five straight doubles tilts with Downey and has not lost more than two games in her last four doubles contests. She has also won three in a row in singles play.
Crowley owns a career combined mark of 72-39 (.649), including 40-21 (.656) in singles action and has posted a 12-3 record in singles matches played at number two or higher. She ranks seventh on the school's career list for combined wins, fourth in singles victories and ninth in doubles wins with 32.
Downey has been named to the GNAC Second Team for singles three times and has put together a combined record of 19-12 this season, including 12-7 in doubles play. The senior is a combined 13-1 vs. GNAC rivals this season and has won four straight singles matches. The Pentucket Regional High School product has been exceptional in doubles play since October 3 with a 10-1 mark, including a current seven-match win streak. Downey combined with Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior Alana Peters to win five consecutive matches to capture the West Bracket at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Championship in Northampton, Mass from October 16-18 and was named the GNAC Player of the Week for her efforts.
A Psychology major, Downey sits just two wins shy of Cokely's school standard for doubles wins with 51 and owns a combined record of 81-60 to place fourth all-time at Simmons. She is 51-28 (.646) in doubles play and her 30 singles victories place her eighth in school annals.
Pierce lands a spot on the All-Conference squad for the first time in her career. She has been a mainstay at sixth singles for the Sharks and was a perfect 5-0 during the regular season vs. GNAC opponents as part of a 6-4 singles mark for the year. Pierce was also 3-2 in doubles action, including 3-0 in GNAC play. Four of the junior's wins have come without dropping a game, while all three of her doubles triumphs came without losing more than two games in pro-set format.
A graduate of Carver High School, Pierce has posted a 17-9 combined career record, including 9-3 in doubles play. She is also 5-1 in matches played at fourth or fifth singles.
Simmons returns to action on Saturday, April 16 when it travels to Waltham, Mass. to take on Bentley University at 10:00 a.m. The Sharks will compete in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in May.