HS tennis: Bellia earns NIC MVP honors
Molly Bellia has earned MVP honors in girls tennis for the Northern Indiana Conference for the 2023 season.
The Saint Joseph junior led her team to the conference championship and has her squad ranked No. 1. Bellia was also the NIC MVP a year ago and was the No. 1 singles state champion in 2021 and a state qualifier in 2022.
Bellia, a Naval Academy recruit, led Saint Joe to the sectional title last week. Saint Joe, a state finalist each of the past two seasons, will face host LaPorte in a regional semifinal matchup Tuesday night at Kesling Park in LaPorte.
The NIC Co-Coach of the Year honors went to Andrea Gammage of Washington and co-coaches Ric Wiskotoni and Austin Ward of Elkhart.
Named to the All-NIC first team were Bellia and Marian junior Abby Weaver at No. 1 singles. Also honored were Saint Joe junior Ashi Amalnathan at No. 2 singles and Saint Joe sophomore Anni Amalnathan at No. 3 singles.
The Saint Joe duo of junior Dani Graham and senior Gracie Velasco were first team at No. 1 doubles as were the Penn team of senior Neely Langfeldt and junior Maren Woelfer. The Penn team of sophomore Angelina Smith and junior Clarissa Schmidt were first team at No. 2 doubles.
Named as second team All-NIC were Elkhart senior Adley Keim at No. 1 singles, along with Penn senior Sophia Pischalko and Bremen freshman Emma Lawmaster at No. 2 singles and Penn junior Anna Yoon at No. 3 singles.
The Elkhart team of seniors Charlotte Myers and Bella Scott were second team at No. 1 doubles with the Saint Joe duo of senor Maggie Nguyen and junior Lily Mayfield second team at No. 2 doubles.
The honorable mention choices were Penn freshman Scarlett Biever and Bremen junior Sylvia Meyer at No. 1 singles and the Marian No. 1 doubles team of senior Lauren Toepp and junior Lillith Eaton and the New Prairie No. 2 doubles team of sophomores Rachel Paul and Kimberly Crawford.
Saint Joe won the NIC crown by winning the league tourney with 63 points. Penn was second with 55 points, followed by Elkhart (44), Marian (43), New Prairie (36), Adams (33), Jimtown (27), Bremen (26), Glenn (24), Riley (22), Washington (17) and Clay (5).
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Molly Bellia of Saint Joe is the NIC MVP for girls tennis
