October
24, 2006
CEDAR
RAPIDS , IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (IIAC) announced today that Coe College sophomore
Molly Fiala (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Jefferson)
has been selected IIAC women’s tennis Most Valuable Player
and Coe head coach Eric Rodgers has been selected
IIAC women’s tennis Coach of the Year. Both awards were
voted by the Conference coaches following the Conference Championship.
Fiala,
who was also named Conference MVP in 2005, led the Kohawks to
their first-ever IIAC women’s tennis Championship. She
won the ITA Midwest Regional and qualified for the ITA Small
College National Championships, where she finished seventh.
She posted a 16-2 overall singles record with both losses coming
at the ITA Nationals. Fiala lead the Conference with an .889
winning percentage (among those with at least six decisions)
and her 10-0 record at #1 singles was also tops in the Conference
while her 5-0 record in Conference-play was second overall,
first among those at the #1 position. Fiala also posted a 7-4
doubles record.
Rodgers
guided Coe to a 10-1 record including a 6-0 mark against Conference
opponents and the school’s first women’s tennis
Championship since joining the IIAC in 1997. After finishing
fourth in the Conference Individual Tournament without its #1
player (Fiala who was at the ITA Nationals), he led Coe to a
victory over Luther, the top-seed and winners of 23 of 24 Conference
Championships, in the Team Tournament semifinals and over #3-seed
Cornell in the Championship match. This marks the first time
Rodgers has been selected IIAC women’s tennis Coach of
the Year but he has previously been named IIAC men’s tennis
Coach of the Year three times (2003-05).
The
Conference previously announced the women’s tennis All-Conference
Team in conjunction with the Individual Tournament. The semifinalists
at #1, #2 and #3 singles, the finalists in #3, #4, #4 singles
and #1 doubles, and the Champions at #2 and #3 doubles are recognized
as All-Conference. The complete 2006 IIAC women’s tennis
All-Conference Team is here.
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