The men’s and women’s tennis teams finished their season on Sunday in Ojai, California, taking the doubles and singles championships in both divisions.
The men finished the season at 17-9 and had a 4-1 record in conference, while the women finished at 17-6 and 8-3 in conference.
At the conclusion of the season, head coach Hutton Jones was named Southland Coach of the Year. Jones said he was pleased with his team’s performance this year.
“We have put ourselves in the position we had envisioned when we started this D-1 extravaganza four years ago, to win the conference in our four-year waiting period and be ready to win a title in our first year next year and go to the NCAA tournament,” Jones said.
Freshman Jonathan Sheehy was honored as the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year. Sheehy had 12 wins in singles, including a 7-4 record at the No. 2 spot. He also had 14 wins as an individual in doubles matches.
Sheehy was also named to the the second Southland Conference team for singles at the No. 2 spot, along with senior Nico Agritelley at the No. 3 spot and Langdon at the No. 6 spot.
Sheehy said that he was proud of his team for working hard.
“I feel like we really stepped up our game in conference this year,” Sheehy said. “Everyone pushed through the last matches of the year, although we were pretty worn out towards the end.”
For the women, junior Lucile Pothier and freshman Sarah Adams were singles honorable mentions with Pothier at the No. 2 spot and Adams at the No. 4 spot.
Pothier and junior Whitney Williams were named to the first doubles team at the No. 1 spot. Sophomore Jordan Henry and freshman Autumn Crossnoe were doubles honorable mentions at the No. 3 spot.
The men concluded their regular season successfully as they captured a share of the Southland Conference title in a three-way tie with Lamar and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
The men’s season started out with three tough non-conference matches as they got swept 7-0 against the University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Oklahoma. However, the men went on a tear as they won seven straight non-conference matches, including a win over the University of Dayton and Air Force, before they lost to Northern Kentucky University.
The men then went 5-4 in the rest of their non-conference matches to give them a 12-8 record.
Two easy victories were chalked up for the men as they started conference with a 7-0 win over Nicholls State and a 6-1 victory against New Orleans.
Lamar tested the men, however, and gave them their first lost in conference with a 5-2 score.
The men then picked up a 7-0 sweep in a non-conference match against Midwestern State University before heading into their final two conference matches.
With a 5-2 win over Incarnate Word and a match-clinching win by sophomore Sebastian Langdon against Corpus Christi, the men earned their three-way title with the help of the Islanders’ win over Lamar.
The women began their season with ten non-conference matches. While they lost three of the first five, they turned around and won the next five in a row.
The women also played two more non-conference matches against New Mexico State University and Midwestern State in between conference play and won both giving them a 9-3 record in that category.
Central Arkansas handed the women their first loss in conference with a 4-3 score.
However, the women bounced back with an impressive six-straight conference wins before losing 4-3 to Northwestern State.
The women closed conference with with two wins and a loss and grabbed a share for second in the Southland with Lamar and Central Arkansas.
Freshman Adams said she was blessed to have received an honorable mention.
“It makes the end of season taste a little sweeter,” Adams said. “I think this season was such a learning experience, being on this team made me focus on bigger things than winning.”
