CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Jana Leder, Melody Hefti, and Denise Torrealba of the Austin Peay State University women’s tennis team earned ASUN Conference postseason recognition, the league announced Wednesday.

Leder was named First Team All-Conference and to the ASUN’s All-Academic Team, while Hefti received Second Team All-Conference and All-Freshman Team honors, and Torrealba was selected Third Team All-Conference.

“I am proud of these girls,” said head coach Maria Sorbello Morrison. “They have elevated their play throughout the season and the results have shown. Also, Jana’s making the All-Conference Academic Team shows how much she has worked both on and off the court.”

Program history

It is just the fifth time in program history – and second since 1991 – that Austin Peay has received at least five postseason honors. It also is the fourth time the Governors have had three student-athletes named All-Conference First, Second , or Third-Team selections.

After leading Austin Peay with 46 combined victories during her redshirt junior campaign, Leder became just the second Governor to receive three-straight First Team All-Conference selections to begin their collegiate career and is the fourth to earn three-career first team selections at all. Her first team nod also is the 19th in program history.

After combining for 17 wins in the fall, Leder finished second on the team with 29 spring wins including tying for a team-best 14 in doubles play while exclusively playing the No. 1 position alongside Hefti.

Leder began the season at the No. 2 singles position where she went 4-0 with three straight-set victories before being elevated to the No. 1 court and going 11-4 on it.

The Remchingen, Germany native earned her first-career win from the top position in a 6-3, 6-3 victory against rival Southeast Missouri’s Romana Tarajova, Feb. 4, and went on to win six of her next seven matches.

Leder earned five singles wins in ASUN play and finished 4-1 against athletes named to an ASUN All-Conference Team, with her only loss being to the ASUN Player of the Year in North Florida’s Kit Hulihur.

She also was 2-1 against All-Conference selections in doubles play with her and Hefti’s only loss being to the Conference’s Doubles Team of the Year in Gulihur and Ana Paula Melilo.

The 14th Second Team All-Conference selection in program history, Hefti is the fourth freshman since 1995 to be named to an All-Conference selection and the first since Torrealba last season.

The St. Gallen, Switzerland native finished second on the team with 44 combined wins, including 30 in the spring.

After winning four of her first six singles matches while exclusively playing the No. 3 position, Hefti won nine-straight singles matches from Feb. 3-March 26 – tied for the fourth-longest streak by a freshman. Eight of her nine wins came in straight sets, and she did not allow more than three games in a single set six times during that stretch.

The first All-Freshman Team selection in program history, Hefti’s .842 singles winning percentage led all ASUN freshman and finished third in the conference, while her and Leder’s 14 doubles victories were second in the conference.

A two-time All-Conference selection, Torrealba earned 37 wins in her sophomore campaign, including 23 in the spring.

After a slow start to her sophomore season, Torrealba won eight of her next nine matches and did not allow more than two games during a five-match winning streak from Feb. 23-March 14.

Torrealba finished second on the team with 13 doubles wins while exclusively playing on the No. 2 court. She and freshman Sophia Baranov finished the regular season 9-3 together – tied for the most wins by a No. 2 doubles pairing in the ASUN.

Austin Peay is back in action this weekend for its inaugural ASUN Conference Women’s Tennis Championship. The Governors host Queens in a 3 p.m., Saturday match and look to clinch a spot in Sunday’s quarterfinal contest against the winner of Liberty and Bellarmine’s 11 a.m. contest at the Governors Tennis Courts.

For news and updates throughout the Governors’ inaugural ASUN Conference postseason, follow the women’s tennis team on Twitter (@GovsWTN), Instagram (@GovsTennis) and Facebook (Austin Peay Tennis).

ASUN Postseason Honors

  • Player of the Year: Kit Gulihur, North Florida
  • Doubles Team of the Year: Kit Gulihur & Ana Paula Melilo, North Florida
  • Freshman of the Year: Serafima Shastova, Jacksonville State
  • Coach of the Year: Catherine Dunagan, North Florida
  • Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Kit Gulihur, North Florida

ASUN First Team All-Conference

  • Kit Gulihur, North Florida
  • Jana Leder, Austin Peay
  • Fanny Norin, Florida Gulf Coast
  • Serafima Shastova, Jacksonville State
  • Maria J.P. Romero, Liberty
  • Sasha Dobranos, Lipscomb

ASUN Second Team All-Conference

  • Melody Hefti, Austin Peay
  • Emma Bardet, Florida Gulf Coast
  • Esther Lovato, Liberty
  • Marina Davtyan, Liberty
  • Annabelle Davis, North Florida
  • Anais Gabriel, Stetson

ASUN Third Team All-Conference

  • Denise Torrealba, Austin Peay
  • Ji Youn Lee, Kennesaw State
  • Tiffany Nguyen, Liberty
  • Isabel Oliveira, North Florida
  • Alanna DiFrancesco, Stetson
  • Cheri Darley, Stetson

ASUN All-Freshman Team

  • Serafima, Jacksonville State
  • Melody Hefti, Austin Peay
  • Masha Fedenko, Eastern Kentucky
  • Sofia Madrid, Kennesaw State
  • Sofiia Paladi, Lipsomb
  • Jasmin Makela, North Florida

ASUN All-Academic Team

  • Kit Bulihur, North Florida
  • Jana Leder, Austin Peay
  • Anja Trbeznik, Lipscomb
  • Kendall Nash, North Florida
  • Megan Foster, North Florida
  • Hanna Axelsson, Queens