May 31, 2006

BERKELEY - California's Suzi Babos, who won the NCAA singles title Monday, is one of six finalists for the Collegiate Women's Sports Award, sponsored by Honda. The award recognizes the top woman collegiate athlete in each of 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports.

Babos defeated USC's Lindsey Nelson, 6-4, 6-1, in the championship, to become the first Cal player to win a singles title. Along the way she downed defending singles champion, Zuzana Zemenova of Baylor, in the round of 16. Babos entered the tournament with a No. 27 national ranking and was only the second unseeded player in the 25-year history of the tournament to win a title. Babos ended her sophomore season with a 32-13 overall singles record.

Other nominees for the award are, Emily Applegate of Washington and Lee University, Audra Cohen of the University of Miami, Jing Jing Liu of Brigham Young-Hawaii, Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech, and Nelson.

A press conference announcing the winner of the 2005-2006 Honda-Broderick Cup will be held at Columbia University in New York in late June. The Cup will be presented to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.