LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Trinity University’s Max Frey and Paxton Deuel and DePauw University’s Evan Webeler – the only 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 men’s tennis team.
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.
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.
Among current league members, Trinity led the way with nine selections to the exclusive team followed by Southwestern University with two selections. DePauw paced former league members with two student-athletes named to the squad while Rhodes College and University of the South-Sewanee had one honoree each on the all-anniversary team.
SCAC MEN’S TENNIS – 30TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM
Charlie Boyd, University of the South-Sewanee
Bobby Cocanougher, Trinity University
Alexis Dimanche, Southwestern University
Paxton Deuel, Trinity University
Max Frey, Trinity University
Oliver Gaines, Trinity University
Wilson Lambeth, Trinity University
Kareem Mansur, Rhodes College
Chas Mayer, Trinity University
Jordan Mayer, Trinity University
Jordan Pitts, Trinity University
Scott Sandager, DePauw University
Aaron Skinner, Trinity University
Niko Snovely, Southwestern University
Evan Webeler, DePauw University
Trinity’s Frey is the only student-athlete in league history to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors three times in their career, taking top honors in 2009, 2010 and 2012. A four-time ITA all-American for his singles play, Frey reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championships as a junior in 2011 – the furthest a conference individual had advanced in the tournament since DePauw’s Evan Webeler reached the semis of the 2007 event. His senior season, Frey teamed with Erick De La Fuente to earn all-America honors in doubles. He posted a perfect 11-0 career record in SCAC tournament play, earning all-Tournament honors each of the four years he played and leading the Trinity men to the SCAC Championship his last three seasons.
Deuel was the league’s Player-of-the-Year in 2014 and 2016 and earned all-America honors for his singles play each of those years. He was also named the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year in 2014 after transferring from Division I University of Portland. That same season, he and partner Nico Moreno achieved all-America status in doubles. Deuel was part of two Trinity conference championship teams and earned all-tournament honors for his singles and doubles play in both 2014 and 2016. As a senior, he made it to the quarterfinals of the ITA Small College Nationals in the fall and advanced to the ITA National Small College Championships where he played for seventh place.
DePauw’s Webeler was the league’s Player-of-the-Year in 2006 and 2007 and was runner-up in the voting for the award in 2005. A four-time All-SCAC selection, he posted a 31-6 mark as a senior, including a perfect 3-0 mark at the conference tournament, when he led eighth-ranked DePauw to its first SCAC men’s title with a 5-4 victory over seventh-ranked Trinity, snapping the Texas Tigers’ 13-year stranglehold on the conference crown. Webeler, who advanced to the semifinal round of the 2007 NCAA Division III Singles Championships later that season, earned the second of his two career ITA all-America honors for his singles play as well as an all-America nod, along with partner Scott Swanson, for his doubles play.
An additional six all-Anniversary recipients earned a SCAC Player-of-the-Year accolade once in their career, including Alexis Dimanche of Southwestern and Bobby Cocanougher, Oliver Gaines, Wilson Lambeth, Chas Mayer, and Aaron Skinner of Trinity.
Dimanche earned SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors in 2017 and followed with a Player-of-the-Year honor as a sophomore in 2018 – the first sophomore to win the award since Trinity’s Paxton Deuel in 2014. A three-time All-SCAC player, Dimanche was runner-up in the POTY voting twice more (2017 and 2019). He earned the program’s first-ever all-America honor when he advanced to the round of 16 at the 2018 NCAA Division III Singles Championship.
Trinity’s Cocanougher, the 2011 SCAC Player-of-the-Year and a three-time All-SCAC First Team honoree, earned All-America honors all four years for his work in doubles action. Teamed with Cory Kowal, the Tiger duo won the ITA Regional Doubles Championship three times in their career, and they won the USTA/ITA National Small College Doubles Championship in 2010. Cocanougher and Kowal advanced to the NCAA Doubles Semifinals in 2009 and a year later, the duo made it to the NCAA Division III Doubles Championship. Cocanougher earned all-America honors for his singles play as a senior in 2011.
A three-time All-SCAC First Team selection, Gaines earned 2008 SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors as a senior. Trinity’s No. 1 singles player in 2007 and 2008, Gaines led the Tigers to a national team ranking of No. 1 in 2008 as he was the West Region’s top-ranked singles player heading into that year’s NCAA Division III Singles Championship. He won the ITA West Region Singles Championship, earning him a spot on the 2008 ITA All-America team and teamed with Cory Kowal to earn AA honors in doubles.
Lambeth, the 2019 SCAC Player-of-the-Year, was a four-time All-SCAC First Team selection, one of just six players in league history to earn that distinction and finished in the top five in the POTY voting each of his four years in the league. He was a four-time SCAC all-tournament selection for his singles play, posting a perfect career record of 7-0 for the Tigers at the conference championships. A three-time all-American – for his doubles play in both 2017 (w/Matt Tyer) and 2019 (w/Jordan Pitts) and for his singles play in 2019 – Lambeth was voted the National ITA Player to Watch following the 2017 season.
The 2017 SCAC Player-of-the-Year, Chas Mayer was a three-time All-SCAC First Team selection, finishing third in the POTY voting as a junior prior to taking home top honors a year later as a senior. He also earned SCAC all-tournament honors five times in his career while at Trinity – twice as a singles player and three times for his performance in doubles.
Trinity’s Skinner posted a perfect 7-0 mark in SCAC tournament in his four years in the program, earning all-tournament honors each year. He was the 2013 SCAC Player of the Year as a sophomore and finished as the runner-up in the POTY voting as a senior in 2015. He was an ITA all-American in 2013 for his singles play and earned AA recognition for doubles in both 2013 and 2015 while teaming up with Jordan Mayer.
Rounding out the 30th anniversary team is Scott Sandager of DePauw, Charlie Boyd of University of the South-Sewanee, Kareem Mansur of Rhodes, Niko Snovely of Southwestern and Jordan Mayer and Jordan Pitts of Trinity.
Sandager, a three-time First Team all-SCAC selection and two-time all-tournament performer, played for three DePauw SCAC title-winning teams. He finished as runner-up in the Player-of-the-Year voting as a senior in 2010.
Sewanee’s Boyd was a three-time First Team all-SCAC honoree, finishing in the top six in the Player-of-the-Year voting each year from 2007 to 2009, including a runner-up finish in 2008 as a junior. An ITA all-American in 2007, he earned all-tournament honors in both 2008 and 2009, posting 3-0 marks at No. 1 singles for the Tigers.
A three-time First Team all-SCAC honoree, Rhodes’ Mansur finished in the top six in Player-of-the-Year voting each of those years (2005-2007), including his senior season in 2007 when he was runner-up in the balloting. Along with teammate Scott Bayer, Mansur earned 2007 all-American honors for his doubles play.
One of just six players to earn First Team all-SCAC honors four times in a career, Snovely never finished lower than fourth in the Player-of-the-Year voting across his four years at Southwestern, which included a runner-up finish as a junior in 2016.
Jordan Mayer joins Snovely as one of the league’s six four-time First Team all-SCAC honorees. A three-time all-Tournament selection for both his singles and doubles play with the Tigers, Mayer partnered with Aaron Skinner to earn all-America honors for his doubles play in both 2013 and 2015.
Trinity’s Pitts was a First Team all-SCAC selection in 2017, 2018 and 2019, earning all-Tournament consideration each of those same seasons. An all-America designee for his doubles work with Wilson Lambeth in 2019, he helped the Tigers secure their 10th consecutive SCAC title and 24th overall that same season.
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.
