Williamsburg, KY – With the regular season and MSC tournament wrapped up, the Cumberlands gears up for the NAIA Women's Tennis National Tournament in Mobile, Al. The Patriots qualified for the national tournament for the fourth time in five years, looking to advance past the opening round for the third time in as many tries.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
UC posted a record of 22-5 during the regular season while finishing second in the Mid-South during the regular season while coming the MSC Tournament Championship. UC finished the season 9-1 in conference play while grabbing eight wins over ranked opponents on their way to the program's first ever back-to-back 20-win seasons.
Cumberlands put together a strong showing no matter where they played, going 10-2 at home while posting a 4-1 mark on the road and 8-2 in neutral site contests. UC's 9-1 mark inside their friendly confines was the second best in the MSC while their record of 4-1 on the road ended up being second best as well.
The Patriots played some of their best tennis down the stretch of the season on their way to capturing their first conference title in over 20 years. UC started to catch fire in late March and has cooled off since as they enter the national tournament with an 11-match win streak. During that span, Cumberlands has been dominant with seven of their wins coming via the sweep.
ACCOLADES AND RECORDS
It was a season for the record books as the milestones and honors piled up for the Patriots. UC finished the season as the class of the Mid-South, winning the conference player of the week award on seven different occasions with Johanna Beckmann and Tomomi Nagao each winning thrice while Meiri Okuwaki was named the recipient once. Cumberlands' seven honors showed how dominant the efforts were for UC as it was by far the most in the conference as Lindsey Wilson was the only other two to have multiple honors with two.
Tomomi Nagao added to her long list of honors and milestones this year, piling on to what was already the most decorated career in program history. Nagao finished the season with a new career-high in singles wins with 23 while becoming the all-time leader in singles wins, surpassing Neesha Thirumalaichelvam's mark of 63 and currently sitting at 72. She added to that by becoming the first player in the team's history to claim multiple MSC Player of the Year awards, winning it in back-to-back seasons while being named to her third All-MSC First Team.
Tomomi was joined by freshman phenom Meiri Okuwaki on the first team as the native of Saitama, Japan put together one of the strongest debut campaigns in program history. Meiri played her way to a record of 39-7 on the year while finishing with 10 wins against ranked teams. Okuwaki was a tough opponent in both doubles and singles, winning 20 contests alongside Tessa Gray in doubles while winning 19 when solo, coming up one win shy of becoming the first freshman to win 20 matches in both in school history.
POSTSEASON PERSPECTIVE
The Patriots did not slow down one bit once they began postseason play with them winning the Mid-South Conference Championship, claiming the program's first title signal 2000. UC went to Bowling Green, KY on a mission and were able to get the job done, winning the team's fourth MSC title. As the #2 seed, Cumberlands received a first round bye before having to face Georgetown. The Patriots handled them with ease in a 4-0 win before taking down #18 Campbellsville in the semifinal match 4-1 to set up a rematch of last season's championship match against #8 Lindsey Wilson. This time around, UC got the better of the Blue Raiders in dominant fashion, winging 4-1 to help being home the banner.
Cumberlands now sets their sights on a national title as they're set to play Mobile in their opening round matchup on Tuesday, May 17th, at 1:30 p.m. The victor of that match will then face Montreat in the second round the following day.
The NAIA Women's National Tennis Tournament is a single elimination format with 24 total teams that will take place in Mobile, Al. that will begin on May 17th and will take place through the 21st.
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