SAN ANTONIO — Honors continue to pour in for St. Mary's Tennis.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association has named
Mariana Rong (So., Jinan, China) the South Central Region's Player to Watch and freshman
Cristina Lopez of San Antonio the region's Rookie of the Year.
In addition, head coach
Lisa Dausin was named the region's Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year in both the men's and women's sides.
Dausin's women, whose season wrapped up with a regional-tournament loss to Midwestern State, are ranked No. 22 in the nation, while the men, who advanced to the Heartland Conference Tournament finals, are No. 35.
Rong, the sensational sophomore with the 21-0 record in singles, is ranked No. 14 in the nation and No. 1 in the region in the latest rankings. Meanwhile, Rong and
Ariana Saldana appeared as the No. 17-nationally ranked doubles team.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
