LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2019 SCAC Women's Tennis all-Tournament team this morning.
Zoe Kaffen of Trinity earned all-tournament honors for the third straight year - as she clinched this year's title match with a victory No. 3 singles. She also received all-tournament recognition last year at No. 3 singles and earned the nod at the No. 2 line in 2017. She and her sister Mary also received all-tourney honors at No. 1 doubles for the second consecutive year. Zoe teamed up with Caroline Kutach at the 2017 championships at No. 2 doubles to earn all-tournament recogntion.
Andrea De Leon bookended her career with an all-tournament nod at No. 4 singles after earning the recognition at the same line her freshman year. She teamed with Francesca Canjar to earn all-tournament honors at No. 3 doubles - the fourth consecutive year De Leon has been part of an all-tournament doubles team (with a different partner each year) for the Tigers. Kutach, who teamed with Megan Flores at No. 2 doubles this year, is also a four-time all-tourney honoree for her doubles play.
Other multiple-year honorees include three-time honoree Anna Serfiovanni of Austin College as well as two-time recipients Mary Cardone of Southwestern, Esther Bowers of Southwestern, Chandler Morris of Austin College and Kate De Los Santos of Schreiner,
The 19th-ranked Trinity University women's tennis team won its eighth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a 5-2 victory over 21st-ranked Southwestern University on Sunday.
The Tigers' Caroline Kutach and Megan Flores started off the scoring for Trinity with an 8-3 win at line two doubles to move to 9-6 as a team this season, and Andrea De Leon and Francesca Canjar kept their unbeaten streak alive at 5-0 with their line three win that put Trinity up 2-0. Mary and Zoe Kaffen battled for a tough 8-6 victory at line one to finish off the sweep, securing their fourth straight doubles win to move to 10-8 on the year.
In singles play, De Leon took a straight-set win at line four to put her team ahead 4-0, but Southwestern's Mary Cardone was able to grab a win at line one for the Pirates' first point of the day, then followed with a three-set victory by Esther Bowers at line two to make it a 4-2 match.
The Tigers' Zoe Kaffen, however, stopped the momentum, as she rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 comeback victory to clinch the match for the Tigers at line three.
With the victory, Trinity receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs with official selections being announced on May 6. Head Coach Gretchen Rush has led Trinity to the conference title in each of her five seasons, and the Tiger women's program has now won 23 total SCAC championships.
The 23 total conference titles is tied with the TU men's soccer program for the second-most conference championships by one program in league history. Trinity men's tennis won its 24th championship earlier in the day.
2019 SCAC Women's Tennis All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles – Mary Cardone, Southwestern; Alyssa Davis, Centenary
No. 2 Singles – Esther Bowers, Southwestern; Madison Dyer, Texas Lutheran
No. 3 Singles – Anna Sergiovanni, Austin College; Simone Hall, Colorado College; Zoe Kaffen, Trinity; Mary Eby, Texas Lutheran
No. 4 Singles – Andrea De Leon, Trinity; Chandler Morris, Austin College; Sara Le, Southwestern; Kate De Los Santos, Schreiner
No. 5 Singles – Samantha Stafford, Texas Lutheran; Marlee Daniel, Schreiner
No. 6 Singles – Chandler Vrba, Southwestern, Kaitlyn Enloe, Texas Lutheran
No. 1 Doubles – Mary/Zoe Kaffen, Trinity; Esther Bowers/Mariana Quetzeri, Southwestern
No. 2 Doubles – Kate De Los Santos/Jennifer Garcia, Schreiner; Megan Flores/Caroline Kutach, Trinity; Stephanie Bartusov/Mary Cardone, Southwestern
No. 3 Doubles – Francesca Canjar/Andrea De Leon, Trinity; Nina Elez/Sara Le, Southwestern; Kaitlyn Enloe/Samantha Stafford, Texas Lutheran
*Any player (or doubles team) that goes through the conference tournament undefeated is named to the all-tournament team automatically. If no one player or team goes undefeated using the above criteria, then the next best record at that position will be named to the all-tournament team. Coaches may also nominate a player for the all-tournament team.