Allen, Leong, Bryan-Ajania Earn ITA West Region Awards

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its awards for each of its four regions this morning, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team had three of its players earn ITA West Region accolades.

Senior Catherine Allen was named the ITA West Region Senior of the Year, first-year Justine Leong captured the West Region Rookie of the Year, and senior Anastasia Bryan-Ajania captured the ITA West Region Leadership and Sportsmanship Award. The three Athenas are now one of four finalists for their respective national awards, which will be announced next week at the ITA's virtual awards show. 

Allen capped off a stellar career with the Athenas with a record of 190-27, including 90-11 in singles and 100-16 in doubles. She was well on her way to breaking the program record of 210 combined wins, held by Caroline Ward, before the suspension of spring sports. Allen led the Athenas to a national championship as a sophomore in 2018, winning key singles matches in the national semifinals and finals, and then earned another national championship in doubles last season, along with doubles partner Caroline Cox. 

Leong had a dominant rookie season for CMS this year, finishing with a record of 20-1 in singles, with the only defeat coming to Jada Hart of UCLA at the ITA Fall Nationals in November. She didn't lose a set in any of her Division III matches, including a win over Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico of Emory, who was the defending NCAA Division III singles champion. She finished the year ranked No. 1 in the nation in the singles, after sweeping the ITA Cup singles and doubles (with Allen) championships in the fall. 

Bryan-Ajania wrapped up her CMS career with a 65-14 record, which included an impressive 46-9 mark in singles. She was in the CMS lineup in the NCAA Division III Championships as a sophomore, when she earned a win over Whitman, and as a junior, when her match against Carnegie Mellon in the quarterfinals was unfinished after the Athenas clinched. She was 15-2 in singles over her last two seasons, and advanced to the ITA West Region semifinals in doubles this year, before falling to Allen and Leong in all-CMS match. 

CMS ended the year with a perfect 14-0 record and a No. 1 national ranking, after defeating Emory 5-4 to win its first-ever ITA Indoor Championship.

To view the complete list of ITA Division III regional awards winners, head to the following link: 

2019-20 ITA Regional Awards