SUWANEE, Ga. -- Following Trinity University’s 5-2 victory over Southwestern University for the conference crown on Sunday, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2023 SCAC Women's Tennis All-Tournament team Wednesday morning. Complete Release
Trinity’s Cate Cushing earned All-Tournament honors for the second consecutive year for both her singles play at the No. 2 line as well as her doubles performance at No. 1 with teammate Megan Flores. For Flores, this marks the third consecutive tournament the senior has received all-tournament accolades for her doubles play – the last two years with Cushing and back in 2019 with Caroline Kutach.
Southwestern’s Emma Kesterson and Alli Ziehm, who earned All-Tournament honors for going 1-0 at No. 1 doubles, were also all-tourney selections at No. 3 doubles in 2021.
In a battle of two Top 20 teams, 16th-ranked Trinity was too much to overcome for 20th-ranked Southwestern, even with the latter enjoying home court advantage on what turned out to be a gorgeous day for tennis.
The doubles duos of Trinity Levy and Cate Cushing and Ruth Hill and Olivia Kim gave Trinity an early 2-0 lead, each garnering 8-4 victories at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively. Southwestern's Emma Kesterson and Erika Synoski eeked out a win at No. 3 doubles to keep the Pirates in the match, defeating the duo from Trinity by an 8-6 margin.
Southwestern's Alli Ziehm kept the momentum flowing and evened the match with her 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles over Trinity's Ella Cummings. From there, the remaining singles matches were battles with almost an hour passing before the next result was posted, a 6-4, 7-5 victory by Trinity's Kim over Southwestern's Kesterson - both regionally ranked singles players - that gave the lead back to the Tigers. Another battle of regionally-ranked players produced another Trinity win as Hill defeated Nina Mitrofanova, 7-5, 7-5, to leave the Tigers one win away from the title.
That win didn't take long to arrive as Cushing delivered the 7-6, 7-5 victory over Southwestern's Sydney Wahl and the celebration was on.
The championship is the 25th overall for the Trinity women's tennis program, the third-most conference crowns by one program in SCAC history, trailing only the Trinity men's tennis program, which won its 27th earlier in the day, and the 26 by the Trinity women's soccer program.
*2023 SCAC Women's Tennis All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles – Ruth Hill, Trinity
No. 2 Singles – Alejandra Lopez, St. Thomas; Olivia Kim, Trinity
No. 3 Singles – Ella Mullins, St. Thomas; Sydney Wahl, Southwestern; Trinity Levy, Trinity
No. 4 Singles – Lydia Lee, Southwestern; Cate Cushing, Trinity; Gigi Jensen, Colorado College; Lauren Chisholm, Southwestern
No. 5 Singles – Elizabeth Girian, Colorado College; Alli Ziehm, Southwestern; Ellie Hughes, Trinity; Rachel Rompel, Schreiner
No. 6 Singles – Alli Ziehm, Southwestern; Maddy Meister, Colorado College, Victoria Morales, Schreiner
No. 1 Doubles – Gigi Jensen/Maddy Meister, Colorado College; Ruth Hill/Olivia Kim, Trinity
No. 2 Doubles – Cate Cushing/Trinity Levy, Trinity
No. 3 Doubles – Emma Kesterson/Erika Synoski, Southwestern; Kylie Nutt/Daniella Rodriquez, Schreiner
*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.
