LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Texas Lutheran University’s Sofia Vega, DePauw University’s Janelle Arita and Trinity University’s Caroline Kutach – the last three student-athletes to win multiple Player-of-the-Year honors over the past 15 years – highlight an impressive list of 15 student-athletes named to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's 30th Anniversary women’s tennis team.
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference will be announcing 30th Anniversary teams in 19 sports throughout the 2020-21 academic year. The league selected 15th Anniversary teams during the 2005-06 academic year – those selections can be found here.
The SCAC's 30th Anniversary teams were selected by present coaches, administrators and/or conference office personnel. Athletes who participated in conference competition between the fall of 2005 through the spring of 2020 and had been named to at least two All-SCAC teams and/or were a selected as a Player-of-the-Year in their respective sport were eligible for selection.
Among current league members, Trinity led the way with eight selections to the exclusive team followed by Southwestern University with two selections and Texas Lutheran University win one honoree. Sewanee paced former league members with two student-athletes named to the squad while DePauw University and Rhodes College had one honoree each on the all-anniversary team.
SCAC WOMEN’S TENNIS – 30TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM
Janelle Arita, DePauw University
Esther Bowers, Southwestern University
Mary Cardone, Southwestern University
Gabriela Carvalho, University of the South-Sewanee
Hayley Dittus, Trinity University
Thavindra Ekanayake, Trinity University
Laura Fanjoy, University of the South-Sewanee
Alicia Hunt, Trinity University
Zoe Kaffen, Trinity University
Caroline Kutach, Trinity University
Katy Poettcker, Trinity University
Gabrielle Roe, Trinity University
Anna Beth Sanford, Rhodes College
Liza Southwick, Trinity University
Sofia Vega, Texas Lutheran University
Texas Lutheran’s Vega became the league’s first women’s tennis player to earn three Player-of-the-Year honors in consecutive years since DePauw’s Liz Bondi (2005-07) – winning the award in 2014, 2015 and 2016. A three-time all-SCAC First Team selection and three-time ITA all-American for her singles play (2013, 2014 and 2015), Vega was a perfect 6-0 in her three SCAC championship appearances, earning all-Tournament honors each season. She was also a two-time ITA West Region women’s singles champion, earning that accolade in both 2013 and 2014, and was the West Region Rookie-of-the-Year in 2013. In her four years at TLU, she posted a 105-18 career singles record – a winning percentage of 85.3 percent.
DePauw’s Arita, one of 14 women’s players to earn all-SCAC First Team honors four times in their career, was the league’s Player-of-the-Year in both 2010 and 2011. The Tigers won the SCAC championship all four years Arita was in the league, and she posted a cumulative 10-2 mark at No. 1 singles and was a perfect 12-0 in doubles play at the event – earning a combined six all-Tournament honors. The ITA National Rookie-of-the-Year in 2008, she is one of just five women’s players in conference history to earn all-American honors for their singles play all four years of their career (2008-11). She and partner Kelly Gebert also earned AA honors in doubles in 2011.
Kutach earned SCAC Player-of-the-Year in 2018 and 2019, making her the eighth and most recent women’s player to earn multiple POTY honors in their career. A four-time First Team all-SCAC selection, she led Trinity to conference titles each of her four seasons in the league. Playing with four different partners, Kutach was a perfect 8-0 in doubles play at SCAC championships, earning all-Tournament honors each year. She was also a two-time all-tourney selection for her singles play. As a junior in 2018, Kutach earned ITA all-America recognition for her singles play.
Four additional all-Anniversary recipients earned a SCAC Player-of-the-Year accolade once in their career, including Gabriela Carvalho of University of the South-Sewanee, Mary Cardone of Southwestern University and Thavindra Ekanayake and Zoe Kaffen of Trinity.
Carvalho, who bookended her career with 2005 ITA National Rookie-of-the-Year and 2008 SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors, was a four-time First Team all-SCAC honoree (2005-08) and, in addition to her ’08 award, finished as runner-up in the conference’s POTY voting as a sophomore and a junior. She was part of the Sewanee squad that earned the program’s second-ever conference title as the Tigers defeated the nation’s top-ranked team, DePauw, 5-4 in the tournament finals of the 2007 SCAC Championships. One of the five players in league history to be named a four-time all-American for her singles play (2005-08), Carvalho teamed with partner Laura Fanjoy to pick up an additional AA honor for doubles in 2007.
Southwestern’s Cardone, a three-time all-SCAC First Team honoree (2017-19), was the league’s Newcomer- and Player-of-the-Year in 2017 – the only woman in league history to earn both awards the same season. She went 20-1 that season, the second-highest single-season win percentage (.952) by a player in league history. She finished as runner-up in the league’s POTY balloting in both 2018 and 2019 prior to the pandemic wiping out her senior season. A two-time SCAC all-tournament selection and three-time NCAA singles qualifier, Cardone became Southwestern’s third women’s player to earn all-American honors when she received ITA recognition following the 2019 season.
Ekanayake, the 2013 SCAC Player-of-the-Year, was a three-time First Team selection for Trinity, earning recognition each year from 2011-2013. She was a three-time all-Tournament honoree for her doubles play (2010, 2012-13) and was undefeated at No. 1 singles to earn all-tourney for her singles play at the 2013 conference championships. She teamed with fellow all-Anniversary recipient Katy Poettcker to earn ITA all-American honors for her doubles play in 2010.
The 2021 SCAC Player-of-the-Year, Trinty’s Kaffen became the 14th and most recent women’s tennis player to earn First Team All-SCAC status four times in her career (2017-19 and 2021). She was a four-time all-tournament singles honoree in SCAC championship play, posting an undefeated mark across three different lines for her career, including a 1-0 mark at No. 1 singles at the 2021 tournament. Teaming with her sister Mary, Kaffen was a two-time all-American performer in doubles – earning accolades in both 2019 and 2020 – before picking up her first AA honor for her singles play at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
Rounding out the 30th anniversary team is Anna Beth Sanford of Rhodes College, Laura Fanjoy of Sewanee, Esther Bowers of Southwestern and Hayley Dittus, Alicia Hunt, Katy Poettcker, Gabrielle Roe and Liza Southwick of Trinity.
Sanford is one of just three Rhodes College women’s players, and the only one over the last 15 years, to earn First Team All-SCAC recognition all four years of their career – including her junior and senior year (2010 and 2011) when she finished third in the Player-of-the-Year voting. Sanford handed two-time SCAC POTY and fellow all-Anniversary honoree Janelle Arita of DePauw one of her two career losses in league play – a straight-set 6-3, 6-0 defeat – in the semifinals of the 2010 conference championships.
Sewanee’s Fanjoy was a three-time all-SCAC First Team honoree, earning recognition in 2005, 2006 and 2007. She went undefeated at both No. 2 singles and at No. 2 doubles with partner Molly Willett, in leading the Tigers to the program’s second and final SCAC women’s tennis title with a 5-4 victory over the nation’s top-ranked team, DePauw University, at the 2007 conference championships. Fanjoy was a 2007 ITA all-American for both singles and doubles (w/fellow all-Anniversary honoree Gabriela Carvalho).
Bowers is a three-time All-SCAC First Team selection, earning nods to the squad in 2018, 2019 and 2021 while finishing third in the Player-of-the-Year voting the last of two of those seasons. She, along with partner Kate Dougherty, earned ITA all-American honors in 2017 as the duo captured the Regional Doubles Championship. Bowers played a vital role in catapulting the 2021 Southwestern squad to its first-ever SCAC women’s tennis title, a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight where they lost to eventual national champion Emory, and a Top 10 national ranking.
Dittus earned First Team all-SCAC honors in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and helped lead the team to three conference championships in her time at Trinity, including earning all-Tournament honors in both 2004 and 2005 when she went a combined 5-0 in both singles and doubles play. She earned all-American honors for her singles play in both 2004 and 2007 and for her doubles play in 2004 (with partner Heather McGowan). She was named the ITA National Rookie-of-the-Year in 2004.
From 2005 to 2008, Trinity’s Hunt was a four-time all-SCAC First Team honoree, helping guide the Tigers to SCAC titles in 2005 and 2006. She was undefeated at the No. 2 singles line and during doubles play for both of those championship teams, earning all-tournament honors each year. Hunt was a two-time ITA all-American for her singles play (2006 and 2008) and earned AA honors those same seasons, teaming with Grace Hackett (’06) and Laura Steinmetz (’08), for her doubles play.
Poettcker was a three-time all-SCAC selection, picking up First Team nods in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Specific to singles play, she was Trinity’s only ITA all-American for a three-year stretch, earning AA honors in both 2009 and 2010. Poettcker partnered with fellow all-Anniversary honoree Thavindra Ekanayake to garner all-American honors for the duo’s doubles play following the 2010 season.
Roe, one of seven Trinity women’s players and 14 across the history of the conference to earn First Team all-SCAC honors four times, was an all-conference honoree each season from 2013 to 2016. A member of four SCAC championship teams, Roe earned all-Tournament honors three times as a singles player and twice as a doubles player, teaming with teammate Caroline White on both occasions.
Trinity’s Southwick earned all-SCAC First Team honors three times in her career (2015, 2016 and 2017), culminating with a runner-up finish in the league’s Player-of-the-Year voting her senior season. She was a member of four Trinity conference championship teams and earned all-Tournament honors for either her singles or doubles play each of those years, including a nod for both in 2015 and 2016. Southwick was an ITA all-American for her singles play in 2017 and earned AA recognition (along with partner Marie Lutz) in both 2015 and 2016.
The SCAC was formed in 1991 after a reorganization of its predecessor, the College Athletic Conference (CAC). The CAC dates to 1962 with four charter members: Centre College, Southwestern @ Memphis (now Rhodes College), Sewanee-The University of the South, and Washington & Lee (Va.) University. Washington (Mo.) University joined the CAC later that same year.
The SCAC was formed to provide an association through which the member institutions may encourage organized competition in intercollegiate sports among teams representative of their respective student bodies. Members of this conference share a commitment to priority of the overall quality of academic standards and quality educational experiences.
