Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference
Sports Release

Austin College ● Birmingham-Southern ● Centre ● Colorado College ● DePauw ● Hendrix
Millsaps ● Oglethorpe ● Rhodes ● Sewanee ● Southwestern ● Trinity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2008 / Contact: Dwayne Hanberry, SCAC Interim Commissioner

SEWANEE'S CARVALHO; TRINITY'S GAINES
NAMED SCAC TENNIS PLAYERS-OF-THE-YEAR
 

SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive voting by the head coaches in the league, Gab Carvalho of Sewanee-University of the South and Oliver Gaines of Trinity University have been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tennis Players-of-the-Year.

In that same balloting, DePauw University swept the Coach-of-the-Year awards as Scott Riggle was voted Women’s COTY and Tom Cath was recognized as Men’s COTY.

Carvalho, a senior from Rock Hill, Ill., posted a 15-4 singles record and was ranked seventh nationally entering this year’s NCAA singles tournament where she advanced to the round of 16. A four-time all-America selection as well as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rookie-of-the-Year in 2005, it was her fourth straight invitation to the national tournament as a singles participant. Carvalho led Sewanee to a third-place finish three weeks ago at the 2008 SCAC conference championship as the 19th-ranked Tigers defeated Rhodes, 5-4. Carvalho, who finished third in the SCAC Player-of-the-Year voting as a freshman and runner-up as both a sophomore and a junior, is just the second player from Sewanee to earn the league’s Player-of-the-Year honor – joining Cameron Tyer who shared the award with Stephanie Desmond of Trinity University in 1992. Just last week, Carvalho was named the ITA National Senior Player of the Year. She joins Tyer (1993) and Mary Missbach (2000) as former Sewanee players to receive the top national award and is the second consecutive SCAC student-athlete to win the award – following Liz Bondi of DePauw.

Gaines, a senior from Austin, Texas, finished the regular season with a 13-11 singles record and a 17-9 mark in doubles play. He has been Trinity's number one player in singles and doubles over the past two seasons, and holds career records of 53-35 in singles and 59-30 in doubles. Gaines was the West Region's top-ranked singles player heading into the NCAA Singles and NCAA Doubles Championships this spring, as well as being on the third-ranked doubles team in the region. Last fall, Gaines won the ITA West Region Singles Championship, earning him a spot on the 2008 All-America team. A three-time all-SCAC selection (2006-2008), Gaines led his team to a national ranking of # 1 late in the season and was recently named the ITA West Region Senior Player-of-the-Year. During his four-year career, Trinity has captured two SCAC titles and been to the NCAA Quarterfinals three times. Gaines’ selection as POTY marks the 11th time that a Trinity men’s tennis player has been recognized with the league’s highest individual honor.

For the fourth time in six years, DePauw’s Riggle has been recognized by his peers as the SCAC Women’s Tennis Coach-of-the-Year. Only Butch Newman of Trinity (eight times) has more women’s tennis COTY awards than Riggle. Playing on their home court at the 2008 Spring Sports Festival, Riggle’s sixth-ranked Tigers earned their first outright SCAC title after defeating 18th-ranked Trinity, 8-1, in the SCAC championship match. Riggle has compiled a 145-56 match while at DePauw, including this year’s 22-5 mark, and once again led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament – the program’s seventh overall appearance and sixth in his eight years at the helm.

Cath was voted SCAC Men’s Tennis Coach-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year – fifth time overall – and has been honored as the league’s men’s COTY more times than anyone else in conference history other than Trinity’s Butch Newman (nine). His 19th-ranked Tigers edged top-ranked Trinity, 5-4, and captured their second straight SCAC title at the 2008 Spring Sports Festival. Cath, who was named the ITA Division III Men’s National Coach-of-the-Year in both 1995 and 2005, has compiled a 352-161 match record in 22 years at DePauw and his teams have earned trips to the NCAA Division III Championships 15 times, finishing sixth in 2007, eighth in 1990 and 2000 and ninth in 1995 and 2006.