ODU Gives Out Hardware at End of the Year Golden Monarch Awards

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University athletics hosted the annual Golden Monarch Awards on Monday night at Chartway Arena. Awards were given out for Athlete of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Championship Effort Award, Scholar-Athlete, Spark Plug, Most Inspirational, Community Service, Comeback, Mr. and Ms. Monarch and the Monarch Cup.
 
Women's tennis player Tatsiana Sasnouskaya and football player Jason Henderson took home the awards for male and female Athletes of the Year.
 
Henderson led the country with 186 tackles and was ODU's first FBS All-American.
 
Sasnouskaya is ranked top-35 in the country in singles and helped lead the Monarchs to an undefeated Sun Belt regular season championship.
 
Male Athlete of the Year
Jason Henderson
Henderson led the country with 186 tackles and obliterated ODU and Sun Belt Conference records for single-season tackles. He finished the year seven tackles away from the FBS single-season record for tackles. He was a first-team All-Sun Belt selection and was named ODU's first FBS All-American, earning five second-team honors and one third-team accolade. He finished the year with 11 double-digit tackle games and was the only player in the country to have multiple 20+ tackle games. He set an ODU single-game record with 22 tackles against Georgia Southern.

 
Female Athlete of the Year
Tatsiana Sasnouskaya – Women's Tennis
Sasnouskaya has been ranked in the top 35 nationally all year in singles, peaking at 20th. She has wins out of conference this year over West Virginia, LSU, Princeton, Alabama, Maryland Va. Tech, Penn State, Columbia, Wake Forest, Iowa State and Florida State. She is 5-2 vs nationally-ranked opponents – wins over Wake Forest, Iowa State, Princeton, Kansas and Florida State. Sasnouskaya enters the Sun Belt Conference Tournament this year winning her last seven matches in a row.
In doubles, she has teamed with Sofia Johnson to carry a 15-5 record into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. They've been nationally ranked all season, currently 37th and are the only Sun Belt Conference tandem ranked. The duo knocked off the #2-ranked duo from Oklahoma in the ITA All-Americans in fall and also have a win over #12 Wake Forest in a February dual. They have wins over West Virginia, LSU, Rice, Oklahoma, Penn State, Ohio State, Wake Forest and Florida State. 

 
Male Freshman of the Year
Alex Bouche – Baseball
Bouche has started 36 games for the Monarchs in 2023, all at shortstop. The freshman from Chesapeake, Virginia is second on the team with a .328 batting average and has hit nine home runs with two triples, five doubles, 34 runs scored, 32 RBIs, 27 walks and two stolen bases. He has posted multi-hit performances in 14 games, including a 4-for-6 outing on March 25 against Marshall with a double and three runs scored. He drove in a season-high five-runs in the team's February 21 win over VMI, going 3-for-5 with a three-run home run and two-RBI double.
 
Female Freshman of the Year
Sanci Molkenboer – Field Hockey
Molkenboer appeared in 14 games making 12 starts. She scored six goals and had 12 points. Her first goal as a Monarch came against Quinnipiac. One of her six goals was a game-winning goal against VCU with a minute remaining in the game. Molkenboer also scored in both tournament games for ODU. She was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team and was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week two times.

Best Individual Performance
Carla Morich – Women's Soccer – scored a hat trick in the SBC Tournament final in 4-3 win over JMU.
 
Best Moment
Women's Soccer wins back-to-back conference championships in different conferences.
 
Most Inspirational Student-Athlete of the Year
Jason Wade – Men's Basketball
 
Comeback Student-Athlete of the Year
Nicola Vidal – Men's Tennis

Spark Plug Award
P.J. Gill – Men's Basketball 

Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Noah Wilkins – Men's Swimming
 
Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Leah Onosato – Women's Golf
 
Championship Effort
Men's and Women's Swimming
 
Community Service
Katie McGrain – Women's Lacrosse

Mr. Monarch
Younes Lalami – Men's Tennis
 
Ms. Monarch
Madeline Rudd - Volleyball
 
Monarch Cup
Men's and Women's Swimming