AVE MARIA, Fla.- Ave Maria women's tennis sophomore Lara Teodoro was recognized as one of the best NAIA tennis players in the nation on Wednesday, with the release of the newest Oracle/ITA NAIA player rankings. The Brazil native was ranked as the No. 33 player in the nation, and the seventeenth ranked player in the South Region. Teodoro is the first player in school history to receive national recognition.

In her first season at Ave Maria, Teodoro posted the most prolific season for a tennis player in school history. She posted an 11-2 record in singles play, with her only losses coming to NCAA Division II Embry-Riddle's Georgina Wood, who went 8-1 this spring, and SCAD's Priya Sukkanha, the seventh ranked NAIA player in the nation. Her victories included two players that join her in the NAIA top 50 - Keiser's Dugleisy Linarez, who is ranked 21st in the nation and eighth in the region, and Southeastern's Sharienne Ricardo, the nation's No. 45 player.

Teodoro is one of nine Sun Conference players to be ranked in the top 50, and one of seven to be placed among the top 20 players in the south. Five of the nine nationally ranked players, and five of the seven in the region, come from Keiser, who ended the season ranked No. 2 in the nation. Two hail from No. 19 Southeastern, while Sukkanha from No. 5 SCAD and Teodoro from Ave Maria round out the Sun Conference representation.

The number one player in the nation is Elyse Lavender of Brenau University, who earned victories over the second and third ranked players, Maria Genovese and Madeline Bosnjak, both hailing from Georgia Gwinnett. The top doubles team comes from Xavier University of Louisiana, and consists of Angela Charles-Alfred and Lailaa Bashir. Five Sun Conference teams appear in the top 25 in doubles action, as well.

Led by the eleven singles and seven doubles wins of Teodoro, the Gyrenes posted easily their best season in program history, despite the shortened nature of the campaign. AMU rose to the first slot in the "receiving votes" category of the national poll, slotting them as the No. 26 team in the nation. Teodoro's eleven singles wins shattered the school record, and placed her third in school history for an entire career.