DALLAS – North Texas tennis earned four 2019 Conference USA All-Conference honors as voted on by the league's coaches.

The Mean Green's Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze were each named first team all-conference for singles and they were also named first team all-conference for doubles. The two who combined have won over 200 matches for the program over the last four years and are graduating from UNT with a combined nine first team all-conference honors now.

With the selection, Kononova becomes the program's first four-time all-conference honoree.

Joining Kononova and Kutubidze was juniors Ivana Babic and Alexandra Heczey who were named second team all-conference for doubles. It is their first all-conference honors.

"It's always great to see how strong we started and finished our college careers," Kononova said of her and Kutubidze. "I'm proud of us and all we achieved here."

Kononova's teammate echoed her statements and believes this will only further motivate them.

"I'm really happy that Ivana and I received this recognition as well as Maria and Tamuna," Heczey said. "I always wanted to achieve this and it is really nice to finish the year with this. I believe that this will help us to achieve higher goals."

Heczey and Babic helped carry a Mean Green doubles lineup that won over 65 percent of its matches. The juniors clinched more than half the doubles points for UNT and saw incredible improvement from last season.

The two won 12 doubles matches this year for UNT. Nine of those wins came in the spring. The two won just one doubles match last spring.

"I am thrilled and horned to get this award for the first time," Babic said. "It is unbelievable when you know how much work you put in during practice and your work gets recognized like this."

For Kononova and Kutubidze, the all-conference honors come as no surprise as the two who are the winningest doubles team in UNT history. The duo who earned a No. 19 national ranking once again had one of the best seasons in C-USA. In doubles,
the pair that won the ITA Texas Regional in the fall combined to win 20 matches this year at an 85 percent clip and went 7-2 against league opponents.

Next week they will find out if they earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Individually, Kutubidze, who entered this year already having been named first team all-conference for singles before in 2016 as a freshman, had a breakout senior year. She set single season highs in wins and winning percentage and she beat top 80 ranked opponents for the first time in her career. She also earned her first top 60 national ranking.

"It feels really good to finish my senior year being named first team in both doubles and single," Kutubidze said. "I'm proud of Maria and I and the mark we've left on this program."

The native of Georgia who ranks second all-time in wins at UNT, went 20-6 on the year and won a career-best 14 dual singles matches and went 8-1 against conference opponents, including a win over Old Dominion's top singles player Holly Hutchinson on March 8. Hutchinson is ranked No. 76 in the nation.

Kutubidze's straight set win in August over Alabama's Andie Daniell was the first sign of breakout season for Kutubidze. In the most recent rankings, Daniell is No. 35 in the country.

For Kononova, 2019 marks the fourth straight year the program's winningest tennis player was named first team all-conference for singles.

After a slow start to the year, Kononova won 10 straight singles matches and won 13 of 14. She won 18 matches during the entire year and went 8-1 against C-USA opponents.

She made the round of 16 at the Texas Regional in the fall and will graduate from UNT having earned the highest national ranking for singles at No 41 among many other program records.

"It's a great thing for a program and for upcoming freshmen," Kononova said. "They can look past results and strive for success as well. I hope it will give them extra motivation and inspiration. If I could do that, anybody else can as well."