Russo Named 2022 GNAC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year

Posted: Oct 24, 2022

WINTHROP, Mass. – Lesley University head coach Jessica Russo was voted the GNAC Coach of the Year by her coaching peers, as she helped lead the Lynx to their first-ever GNAC Tournament appearance and victory, a first-round win over Eastern Nazarene College.

In just her second season as a collegiate head coach, Russo was named the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Tennis Coach of the Year after guiding the squad to a 9-6 overall record, a 1000% win improvement from her first season at the helm.

At Lesley, she has recruited and coached one GNAC First Team All-Conference player who was also named to the GNAC All-Rookie Team (Jessica Legendre, 2022).

Russo is no stranger to Lesley having played for the Lynx for three seasons after transferring in from Newbury College. During her rookie campaign with the Nighthawks she eanred NECC Rookie of the Week honors. She was named to the NECC Academic All-Conference Team in 2016 and 2017, the NAC Academic All-Conference Team in 2018 and the GNAC Academic All-Conference Team in 2019. She was a recipient of the Coach's Award in 2018 and was a member of the 2019 Women's Tennis team that earned the Lesley Athletics Academic Cup, presented to the team with the highest cumulative GPA. She posted 14 singles wins and 16 doubles wins over her three seasons on the team and served as a team captain her senior campaign.

Regis College freshman Kiana Thompson has been voted the 2022 GNAC Women's Tennis Player and Rookie of the Year, as announced by the league office on Monday. The first-year from Boynton Beach, Fla. went undefeated record in both singles and doubles play at the No. 1 singles and doubles positions for the Pride.

Thompson was also an All-Tournament Team selection this past weekend as Regis advanced to the GNAC Championship Final at Colby-Sawyer College, which placed five on the All-GNAC teams and captured its second straight GNAC title and third in four years.

Thompson and sophomore teammate Samantha Gevry, a Second Team Singles selection, were also honored as the conference's top First Team Doubles pairing.

Joining Thompson on the First Team Singles were Colby-Sawyer's Grace Carpenter and Alyssa Owens, Lesley University's Jessica Legendre, Regis' Katelyn Mogelnicki, and Simmons University's Libby Weed.

FIRST TEAM SINGLES
Grace Carpenter, Colby-Sawyer (So., Milford, N.H.)
Alyssa Owens, Colby-Sawyer (Jr., Grain Valley, Mo.)
Jessica Legendre, Lesley (Fr., Leesville , La.)
Katelyn Mogelnicki, Regis (Gr., Wethersfield, Conn.)
Kiana Thompson, Regis (Fr., Boynton Beach, Fla.)
Libby Weed, Simmons (Sr., Brooksville, Maine)

FIRST TEAM DOUBLES
Kiana Thompson / Samantha Gevry, Regis

SECOND TEAM SINGLES
Mariah Mandulak, Albertus Magnus (Sr., Shelton, Conn.)
Isabella Gutierrez, Colby-Sawyer (So., Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
Emily Hill, Colby-Sawyer (Sr., Wilmington, Mass.)
Elise Hogan, Colby-Sawyer (So., Duxbury, Mass.)
Samantha Gevry, Regis (So., Dudley, Mass.)
Emily Kerr, St. Joseph (Conn.) (Sr., Portland, Conn.)

SECOND TEAM DOUBLES
Alyssa Owens / Elise Hogan, Colby-Sawyer

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Isabella Gutierrez, Colby-Sawyer (So., Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
Alyssa Owens, Colby-Sawyer (Jr., Grain Valley, Mo.)
Jessica Legendre, Lesley (Fr., Leesville , La.)
Kiana Thompson, Regis (Fr., Boynton Beach, Fla.)
Liliana Garcia, St. Joseph (Conn.) (Fr., Wethersfield, Conn.)
Annabelle Halloran, Simmons (Fr., Mill Valley, Calif.)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Kiana Thompson, Regis
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Kiana Thompson, Regis
COACH OF THE YEAR - Jessica Russo, Lesley
TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD - Albertus Magnus

ALL-SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM
Nayelli Garcia, Albertus Magnus
Amelia Campanella, Colby-Sawyer
Maria Busila, Eastern Nazarene
Morgan Anderson, Lesley
Nora Connor, Regis
Kathleen Gilland, St. Joseph (Conn.)
Libby Weed, Simmons