Zara Harutyunyan

Height:
5-1
Class:
Senior
High School:
Yerevan Secondary School No. 134
Hometown:
Yerevan, Armenia

Three-time Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and a First Team All-MAC choice each of the last three years ... enters 2011-12 with a preseason singles ranking of No. 118 by the ITA.

as a Junior (Spring 2011): Named Mid-American Conference Player of the Year for a league-record third-consecutive season ... also named to the All-MAC First Team for the third-straight year ... MAC All-Tournament Team MVP ... co-recipient of the program's coaches award, along with senior Jeremie Benjamin ... closed regular season with an 8-0 conference record at No. 1 singles, and a No. 1 doubles mark of 7-1 in league play ... posted a 16-9 mark against dual-match singles opponents ... claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles in the MAC tournament championship match over Anastasia Dracheva from Miami (Ohio), to help Akron win its first title in program history ... teamed with Angelina Jogasuria to go 16-9 in dual doubles competition (7-1 MAC) ... that doubles pair peaked with an ITA ranking of No. 18.

as a Junior (Fall 2010): Teamed with Angelina Jogasuria in doubles to win flight A at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State ... along with Jogasuria progressed to the doubles main draw round of 16 at the Midwest Regional ... that pair also advanced to the main draw of doubles at the ITA/Riviera All-American Championships ... competed in the singles qualifier at the ITA/Riviera All-American Championships ... earned a preseason singles ranking of No. 73 by the ITA.

as a Sophomore (Spring 2010): Named MAC Player of the Year to become only the second player in conference history to win the award twice ... first player in school history and only fourth player in 30 years of MAC tennis to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championships … first player in school history to finish year in national rankings (No. 111) … finished year ranked No. 9 in the Midwest Region – highest ever for an Akron player … named MAC Player of the Week on April 7 … reached a personal and all-time program best national ranking of No. 75 on Jan. 5.

as a Sophomore (Fall 2009): Became first player in Akron history to qualify for the ITA Riviera All-American Championships and then won three consecutive matches to advance through pre-qualifying to qualifying round … co-champion with teammate Angelina Jogasuria in “A” singles at Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational … repeated as No. 1 singles champion at Bowling Green Invitational … partnered with Angelina Jogasuria to win both BGSU Invitational and Spartan Invitational No. 1 doubles championships.

as a Freshman (Spring 2009): Named MAC Player of the Year, becoming the first freshman and first Akron player to receive the award … earned program’s highest-ever national ranking, being listed at No. 85 in the Jan. 6 edition … ranked No. 11 in the Jan. 6 Midwest region poll, making Akron one of only five teams nationally with a player in the top 11 … finished season ranked No. 21 in the Midwest region, the highest end-of-season regional ranking in team history ... First-Team All-MAC honoree … 70 combined singles and doubles wins shattered the previous school record of 54 wins (set by Mendy McMurtry in 1990-91) … named Team’s Most Valuable Player … 37 singles wins and 33 doubles wins established the program's new single-season records (previous records were 28 singles wins and 26 doubles wins) ... first player in school history to earn multiple MAC Player of the Week awards, being honored on Jan. 20 and Feb. 25 … named to the Johan Kriek Classic All-Tournament Team (Jan. 17-19 at Florida Gulf Coast) after going 7-0 at the event … won 24-consecutive singles matches, all in straight sets, from late October to early April … along with partner sophomore Anya Baronayte, won 23-straight doubles matches from October to early April… with Baronayte, became the first pair of Akron teammates to be named to the All-MAC first or second team in the same season … most memorable personal moment of the season was being named MAC Player of the Year … most memorable team moment of the year was “any van ride".

as a Freshman (Fall 2008): First player in program history to qualify for the ITA Midwest Regional main draw ... had program’s best-ever showing at the ITA Midwest Regional (Oct. 23-28 on the campus of Michigan State), with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Michigan State's Whitney Wilson in the round of 64 and a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in the round of 32 over Ohio State’s Kirsten Flower – who entered the event as the No. 5 seed and the No. 41-ranked player nationally ... partnered with sophomore Anya Baronayte to post a 1-1 record in doubles at the ITA Midwest Regional, with a 9-8 loss to Minnesota’s Alessandra Ferrazzi and Tijana Koprivica in the opening round of 64, and an 8-4 win over Evansville's Kate Chybowski and Theadora Kotsiou in the consolation bracket ... lost only four games in three matches en route to winning her first collegiate singles flight title in what was her first collegiate event in No. 1 singles at the Bowling Green Invitational (Sept. 20-21) ... combined with sophomore Carolina Castro Cota to win the No. 1 doubles flight at the BG Invite ... partnered with Baronayte for an 8-2 win over the Northwestern pair of Keri Robison and Nazlie Ghazal, who made up half of the No. 29- and No. 34-ranked doubles teams in the country, at the Northwestern Wildcat Invitational (Oct. 10-12) ... won backdraw in “A” singles at Wildcat Invite, with wins over Wisconsin’s top two players (Elizabeth Carpenter and Alaina Trgovich) and Michigan State’s No. 1 player (Stephanie Kebler), after a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 loss to Oklahoma’s No. 1 player (Ana-Maria Constantinescu, also No. 93 nationally) ... swept the singles and doubles championships at the Big Green Invitational at Dartmouth (Nov. 7-9), with a 6-0 weekend – wins over top players/teams from Dartmouth, Massachusetts and Temple ... 13 singles wins and 11 doubles wins led team in both categories.

Prior to Akron: Ranked as high as No. 150 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings, and compiled a career record of 32-11 in ITF singles play and a 21-9 mark in doubles competition ... posted wins over several players ranked on the women’s professional tour (Women's Tennis Association) including Nicole Leimbach (USA) (career-high No. 486 in 2004), Courtney Nagle (USA) (No. 585 at end of 2007) and Laurene Favol (France) (career-high No. 390 in 2006 and No. 442 at end of 2007) ... declined invitation to play on Armenian Fed Cup Team to maintain NCAA eligibility ... advanced to the semifinals of the 2007 USTA International Spring Championships by defeating three-consecutive “blue chip” recruits, according to tennisrecruiting.net.

Personal: Born June 11, 1990 ... daughter of Mariam Sargsyan and Vigen Harutyunyan ... mother is a professor of English ... has one sister, Maggie ... favorite book is Twilight ... favorite movies are The Godfather and Domino ... craziest ambition is to own a tennis academy ... sports heroes are Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi ... non-sports hero is Marilyn Monroe … favorite food is sushi … interests include fashion, dancing and traveling … favorite quotations: “Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks” and “If you can believe it, mind can achieve it" ... majoring in communication.