Streifler Earns ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award
5/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SKILLMAN, N.J. -- Senior Debra Streifler (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park HS) of the University of Michigan women's tennis team was named the recipient of the Midwest Region's Intercollegiate Tennis Association/Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship, announced recently by the ITA Regional Committee. Streifler is the first Wolverine to earn the honor since its inception in 1997.
Streifler
The award goes to a junior or senior women's player who displays inspiring dedication and commitment to her team, which has enhanced her team's performance and exemplified the spirit of college tennis. Nominees must demonstrate exceptional hard work, courage, sportsmanship and a positive, cooperative attitude that makes people around her play better. Academics, extracurricular achievements and playing accomplishments are also considered in the selection process.
Streifler closes her career as one of the most accomplished athletes in Michigan women's tennis history. She is tied for third place on U-M's all-time singles wins list with 86, while her career singles winning percentage of .699 (86-37) ranks third all-time. Streifler achieved at least 20 singles victories all four years, including a season-best mark of 24 during her senior campaign. She was even more successful in doubles, earning a career record of 91-33 (.734).
Michigan's captain and Big Ten Conference Sportsmanship Award honoree this season, Streifler is a three-time U-M Athletic Academic Achievement award winner and is expected to earn her first Academic All-Big Ten nomination next month. She will graduate in June with a bachelor's degree in sport management from the Division of Kinesiology.
Streifler has been an active member on Michigan's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which put together the 2006 Mock Rock that raised $20,000 for the Champions for Children fundraising campaign to build a new C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.
Cissie Leary was a legendary women's tennis coach at the University of Pennsylvania who passed away in 1996 at the age of 42 after a lengthy battle with scleroderma. During her illustrious 20-year career, Leary made a name for herself as one of the most respected tennis coaches in the nation while propelling the Penn women's tennis program and the Ivy League as a whole to national prominence.
Each regional ITA/Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship winner will be considered for selection along with at-large nominees for the national award, which will be announced at this weekend's NCAA Team Championship (May 18-22).
Streifler looks to extend her collegiate career a bit longer, as she and junior Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., early next week in hopes of entering the NCAA Doubles Championship (May 24-28) as alternates. Streifler and Delicata are the second pair on the alternate list for the 32-team tournament.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
