Trinity's Nguyen Headlines 2023 All-SCAC Men's Tennis Team

Trinity's Nguyen Headlines 2023 All-SCAC Men's Tennis Team

SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive voting by the head coaches in the league, Hao Nguyen of Trinity University has been selected the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Men’s Tennis Player-of-the-Year. Complete Release

In that same balloting, Ashton Ellis of Southwestern University earned Newcomer-of-the-Year honors and Pirates’ coach, Billy Porter, was tabbed as Men’s Coach-of-the-Year.

Nguyen, a senior from Sugar Land, Texas, is currently 19-4 overall this season at the No. 1 line for the Tigers and is ranked No. 5 in the West Region. He went undefeated at the SCAC Championships two weekends back, earning a slot on the All-Tournament team for the third straight year. Prior to his loss on Saturday against CMS’ Advik Mareedu, the top-ranked player in the West Region, Nguyen had won eight straight singles matches and amassed an 11-3 dual-match record and a 9-2 mark at No. 1 singles. Trinity's active leader with 41 career singles victories, Nguyen has been selected to compete in the NCAA III Men's Singles Championships, which will be held May 18-22 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. 

Nguyen’s selection marks the 14th time in the last 15 years a Trinity student-athlete has won or shared the award and the 24th time overall.

Ellis, a first-year player from Baton Rouge, La., posted an 11-3 singles mark in dual matches, primarily at the No. 4 line for Southwestern this season, picking up wins over opponents from #6 Chicago, #11 Trinity, #20 Colby, #23 Carnegie-Mellon and #24 Kenyon. Teaming with Oscar Roy, the top-line duo is currently ranked sixth in the West Region and was as high as No. 7 nationally after earning All-America status this fall by winning the ITA Southwest Regional Doubles Championship.

Ellis is the third Southwestern men’s tennis player to earn SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors since the award was instituted prior to the 2014 season – following Alexis Dimanche in 2017 and Hunter Bajoit in 2019.

In his 10th season at the helm, Porter led his squad to an undefeated SCAC regular season mark (6-0), which included the program’s first victory over Trinity in four years. The Pirates defeated the Tigers, 5-4, on their home courts on April 14, five years to the day since their last victory over the program from San Antonio. Despite falling short to the No. 11 Tigers in the conference tournament, Porter led Southwestern (18-6) to as high as a No. 15 national ranking (currently 18th) this season and coached Ashton Ellis and Oscar Roy to the 2022 ITA Southwest Regional Doubles Championship in the fall – a program-first on the men’s side.  

The COTY honor is the third for Porter on the men's side as he was previously recognized in 2015 and shared the honor with Trinity’s Russell McMindes in 2018.

2023 SCAC MEN’S TENNIS PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
Hao Nguyen, Trinity University, Senior, Sugar Land, Texas

2023 SCAC MEN’S TENNIS NEWCOMER-OF-THE-YEAR
Ashton Ellis, Southwestern University, First-Year, Baton Rouge, La.

2023 SCAC MEN’S TENNIS COACH-OF-THE-YEAR
Billy Porter, Southwestern University, 18-6 Overall Record | #3 West Region | SCAC Tournament Runner-up

To view the entire All-SCAC Men's Tennis team, click here.

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