Kansas City, MO – After coming in at 13 in their last poll, the Patriots women's tennis program climbs two spots to 11 in the final NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll of the 2021-22 season, announced the national office Wednesday. The Patriots tallied a total of 222 points to be one of the four Mid-South teams named to the poll. 

Cumberlands put together one of their better seasons in recent history with the team finishing 23-6 while winning the Mid-South Conference championship with their 4-1 win over then-ranked #8 Lindsey Wilson for the first time in over 20 years and advancing to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament for the third time in as many tries.

Tomomi Nagao led the way for the Patriots in her final season at Cumberlands, putting together one of the most impressive seasons in program history. Nagao ended up going 40-11 overall with career-highs in singles wins (23) and doubles wins (17) while going 12-5 in matches against teams receiving votes or better while going 3-0 against opponents ranked in the top-50 in the NAIA per the ITA. Her efforts were not lost on anyone as she claimed the Mid-South Player of the Year award for the second straight season while being named an All-MSC first teamer and a NAIA All-American First Team member. 

Meiri Okuwaki proved to be just as solid as Nagao as the native of Saitama, Japan finished as an All-MSC First Team honoree with her winning the conference's freshman of the year award. Okuwaki finished with the best overall record on the team, going 41-6 with a pristine 22-3 mark in doubles and a 14-match win streak when playing alongside Tessa Gray with the vast majority of their wins coming in the #2 spot. Despite it being Okuwaki's first season, she wasn't fazed by playing against elite competition as she finished 16-3 in matches when going up against teams receiving votes or better while winning her last nine of such decisions in doubles.

Cumberlands proved to be deep beyond just Nagao and Okuwaki with the team having two other all-conference honorees in Johanna Beckmann who was a member of the second team and Hana Shimeno making it as an honorable mention. Beckmann got off to a hot start to help set the tone for the rest of the season, going 8-2 in her first 10 decisions in both singles and doubles play while Shimeno ended up having a big hand in the team's seven-match win streak against conference competition as she went 8-1 in conference play.

Leading the national poll was Georgia Gwinnett with 343 points and 13 first-place votes with Keiser with 330 points in second and Montreat in third with 316 points.  

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