KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- The University of St. Francis women's tennis program made history on Tuesday when freshman Anna Bintsarovskaya was named a NAIA Second Team All-American by the national office.  Bintsarovskaya becomes the first-ever Fighting Saints player in the 47-year history of the program to gain the elite status.

A total of 48 individuals were recognized on Tuesday with 16 players earning first-team status, 16 making the second team and the final 16 gaining honorable mention accord.

The honor comes less than two weeks after Bintsarovskaya swept the top two Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference individual women's tennis awards when she claimed both Freshman and Player of the Year accolades.

Bintsarovskaya boasts a better than eight UTR (Universal Tennis Rating) ranking after going 13-5 in singles and 8-9 in doubles play during her first collegiate season.  That mark included a perfect record in singles competition against the rest of the league's best players playing in the No. 1 slot.  She also rotated between the top two doubles positions this year, primarily playing with Lieke Coenen.  

In the last set of ITA (International Tennis Association) rankings, Bintsarovskaya sat at No. 6 in the East Region and No. 28 nationally.  The next set of ratings come out on Thursday (May 25).

St. Francis shared the conference regular-season title with both Cardinal Stritch and Holy Cross with each team going 5-1.  The title was the first one for the program since 1984.  Overall, the Saints went 14-8 and were among others receiving votes in the final NAIA Coaches' Poll of the season.

For the complete NAIA release, go to NAIA.

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