ABILENE – In his first year as head coach of Abilene Christian women's tennis following 16 seasons as a dedicated assistant, Wildcat alumnus
John Walker ('89) Tuesday was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year by his peers and the league's sports information directors. This spring he led the Wildcats to a 14-9 overall record and first-place league mark of 10-1.
Walker's team finished non-conference play with a 4-8 record with several losses coming against the likes of TCU, Texas A&M and TCU, but those defeats sharpened the Wildcats' claws as they posted their first-ever 10-win conference record. ACU started the spring 9-0 against league foes, but pressure from Northwestern State (9-2) and Central Arkansas (9-2) kept the Wildcats from clinching the Southland Conference Championship's No. 1 seed until the final day of the regular-season, a 4-3 win over McNeese in Tyler, Texas.
ACU's win over the Cowgirls was one of three flipped results from the previous year, when the Wildcats finished sixth with a 7-4 record. The two other flipped decisions came at home against Sam Houston State (W, 4-3) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (W, 5-2).
The Wildcats' 10-1 conference mark was the result of a 45-21 (.682) singles record posted by six student-athletes, two of whom today were voted First Team All-Southland: freshman
Allison Stewart and sophomore
Ileana Mocciola.
Stewart, a native of Midland, Texas, registered a perfect 11-0 record at the No. 5 position with all but one of those victories coming in straight sets. Her overall record was 15-9 as she went 4-8 against non-conference opposition. Three of those losses (vs. New Mexico, Air Force, UTRGV) came in three sets.
Stewart's conference winning streak started March 1 with a 6-2, 6-2 win at Southeastern Louisiana, and if not for a midseason loss at SMU, she'd be heading into this weekend's tournament on an 11-game winning streak. Her most recent victory was 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 5 vs. McNeese's Sofia Moreno that clinched ACU's 4-3 team triumph.
Mocciola, a native of General Roca, Rio Negro, Argentina, is another first-time Southland honoree. This spring she went 13-9 overall, winning both of her singles matches at the Indiana Invitational before going 8-2 against league competition at the No. 6 line. She won her first two matches in three sets in back-to-back 4-3 wins over Southeastern La. and Sam Houston State and then won her next five conference matches in straight sets.
Mocciola later lost two road matches against second-and-third place Northwestern State and Central Arkansas, but bounced back in the season finale with a 6-2, 6-1 win over McNeese's Carlotta Romito.
Senior and Oklahoma City native
Jordan Henry, who was a Southland Conference Honorable Mention at No. 3 doubles with Autumn Crossnoe in 2017, received her first singles citation today in being named a Honorable Mention at No. 4.
Henry played exclusively at No. 4 vs. the league and finished with a 7-4 record that was part of a 14-10 overall mark. Early in the year she won three-straight road matches vs. New Mexico, UTSA and Cameron to earn a Southland Conference Player of the Week award, and against the league she collected wins against Southeastern La., Stephen F. Austin, Incarnate Word, Nicholls, Lamar, NSU and UCA.
ACU's run at the
Southland Conference Championship starts Thursday in Corpus Christi with a 2 p.m. match vs. eighth-seeded Lamar. The winner of their match will face the winner between No. 4 Sam Houston State vs. No. 5 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
