March 25, 2015 CLEVELAND - Nelle Youel of the Northern Illinois University women's tennis team was named Mid-American Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Week for the second time this year and the third time in her career, the league announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) earned the recognition after extending her undefeated start to the spring 2015 season to 24-0 with two more victories last weekend as the NIU started conference play. The senior dominated her singles matches against Megan Miller of Bowling Green and Alix Thurman of Miami, winning both in straight sets.

Her efforts helped NIU defeat Bowling Green in women's tennis for the first time since 2004, while the Huskies (10-4, 1-1 MAC) also won their MAC opener for the first time since 2009.

Nelle Youel is now 14-0 in No. 1 singles and 10-0 in No. 1 doubles this spring, making her 24-0 overall this spring.

The Crystal Lake, Ill., native was the ninth Huskie this 2014-15 academic year to be named MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week, tying NIU for the lead in the conference with Eastern Michigan.

This season, Youel has already become the NIU all-time combined career wins leader and all-time singles career wins leader in Huskie history, and she needs just one more victory with doubles partner Cristina Alvarez (Zaragoza, Spain/Cristorey Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) to overcome the school record for doubles wins in a career.

She will have the opportunity to set that record on Friday when the Huskies host Toledo for a MAC matchup at the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill. The match will start at 10 a.m.

--NIU--