Stanford's Gibbs to receive National College Player of the Year tennis award today

Stanford junior Nicole Gibbs will be honored today as the 2012 Campbell/ITA National College Player of the Year in women's tennis as part of induction weekend at the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum in Newport, R.I.

Gibbs made her professional debut this week at the WTA Bank of the West Classic on Stanford's campus. Earning a wild-card entry, she won in straight sets in the opening round before succumbing to Wimbledon champion Serena Williams on Wednesday.

ITA Executive Director David A Benjamin, along with presenter Stan Smith, President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum and Anthony Sanzio, Vice President of Global Communications for Campbell Soup, will recognize this year's recipients today at an awards luncheon prior to the ITHF Inductions on stadium court. The 2012 Class includes Jennifer Capriati, Guga Kuerten, Manuel Orantes, Randy Snow and Mike Davies.

The Campbell/ITA National College Player of the Year award is given to the women's and men's singles player who has had the most outstanding year in college tennis and finishes No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA National Rankings.

Gibbs earned ITA All-America honors for both singles and doubles, making her a four-time ITA All-American. She owns a career record of 87-11. Gibbs closed out the 2011-12 collegiate season in impressive fashion, winning her final 17 singles matches to finish with an overall singles record of 41-5 in her sophomore campaign.

The Santa Monica product put together a solid fall season that included claiming the 2011 USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Singles Championship. Gibbs picked up her level of play for the post-season in the spring, capturing the 2012 Pac-12 Singles Championship en route to be named the 2012 Pac-12 Women's Player of the Year.

In the NCAA Women's Singles Championship, Gibbs defeated Florida's Allie Will, the player ranked No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA Division I Women's Singles Rankings heading into the NCAA Championships, in the semifinals. She outlasted teammate and doubles partner Mallory Burdette in the finals 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to win the 2012 NCAA Women's Singles crown.

--Palo Alto Online Sports

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Source: http://www.trivalleyviews.com/news/show_story.php?id=7118

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