Alabama’s Routliffe Named First Team All-SEC, Spielmann Tabbed SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
4/27/2017 11:26:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Seniors Erin Routliffe and Danielle Spielmann featured among 2017 Southeastern Conference award winners
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama senior Erin Routliffe was named to the First Team All-SEC for the fourth straight year, while senior Danielle Spielmann earned the SEC Women's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year award, the league office announced Thursday.
"Erin has proven to be among the best of the best in the SEC," head coach Jenny Mainz said. "She has earned first team All-SEC honors for the fourth consecutive year. That's incredible. This recognition is difficult to achieve in our ultra-competitive conference."
Routliffe, who is currently ranked No. 5 in doubles and No. 14 in singles in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, played all of her matches from the top position in singles and doubles. She leads the team for the most doubles wins in dual-match play with 13, while ranking second on the team for the most singles wins in the spring season with 13. Routliffe has registered seven wins over nationally ranked singles opponents and five victories over nationally ranked doubles opponents during the 2016-17 campaign.
The Caledon, Ontario, native is the first member of the Crimson Tide to earn first-team honors in four-consecutive seasons. The two-time NCAA doubles champion had a successful fall season, winning the ITA Southern Regional Doubles Championships for the second-consecutive year with sophomore Andie Daniell. With the win, the duo earned an automatic entry to the 2016 ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships, where they made it to the quarterfinals. Routliffe also partnered up with Daniell to win the ITF 10k LTP Charleston Championship. The senior finished her career with 85 total singles victories, which ranks eighth on Alabama's career singles wins list.
Spielmann is one of three to be named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, sharing the honor with Kentucky's Aldila Sutjadi and Vanderbilt's Georgina Selly. The Riehen, Switzerland, native has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and is a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete. She has maintained an impressive 3.981 cumulative grade point average as a marketing major.
"Danielle has been exemplary student-athlete in her career at Alabama," said Mainz. "She has done a commendable job of balancing the demands of competing at the highest level in collegiate tennis and excelling in the classroom. I'm proud of all her many accomplishments."
She has also had success on the court, as she leads the team for the most total wins in singles with 19. The senior collected 67 total victories in singles in her four years at the Capstone, while compiling 68 wins in doubles. Spielmann recorded two victories over nationally ranked singles opponents this season.
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