Banada Named ACC Nominee for 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
June 7, 2007
Coral Gables, Fla. – University of Miami’s Audrey Banada will represent the Atlantic Coast Conference as one of the league’s nominees for the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Banada was selected by a vote of the league’s 12 Senior Woman Administrators.
Also representing the ACC is senior track and field star, Michelle Sikes of Wake Forest. Banada and Sikes will be the only two female student-athletes representing the league as nominees for the prestigious honor.
The award honors female student-athletes who have completed their eligibility and demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Last year and for the first time, the NCAA invited each of the conferences to nominate women that represented such qualities. In the award’s 16-year history, the ACC has garnered the award twice. The NCAA selected Wake Forest’s Anne Bersagel in 2006, while Peggy Boutilier of Virginia was honored in 1998.
Banada, who earned a final singles’ ranking of No. 42 in the final Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), closed out her career at Miami with an overall singles record of 32-11. The North Miami Beach, Fla. native finished 21-6 in dual action, while tallying 10 wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, respectively. The 2006-07 season marked a special one for Banada, as she earned the top-spot as the all-time leader in singles at Miami, and finished with a career record of 110-25, surpassing former All-American Ronni Reis, who tallied 103 wins from 1985-1988.
In doubles, Banada finished with a 2007 38-12 overall record and concluded her career with an overall 122-32 record. She sits as Miami’s all-time leader in doubles, surpassing former Hurricane Melissa Applebaum’s 107-34 record. Banada is the second player in UM women’s tennis history to uphold the position as the all-time career records leader in both singles and doubles simultaneously.
The North Miami Beach, Fla. native was named to the All-ACC team for the third time in her career, and was ranked as high as No. 26, marking a personal-high in the ITA rankings. Banada represented the Hurricanes as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was the program’s both academic and team captain. The tennis standout was named to Miami’s Honor Roll for the fall of 2003, 2004 and 2005, and received the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship in 2005.
The NCAA selection committee will select the top-10 winners in each division and from the remaining 30 honorees, the committee will determine the top-three in each division. The members of the CWA will vote from among the top-nine to determine the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year. The top-three honorees from Divisions I, II and III will be recognized and the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at a dinner in Indianapolis, October 27, 2007.
