Trinity's Kutach, Austin College's Duong Highlight All-SCAC Women's Tennis Selections

Trinity's Kutach, Austin College's Duong Highlight All-SCAC Women's Tennis Selections

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - In exclusive voting by the head coaches in the league, Caroline Kutach of Trinity University has been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Women’s Tennis Player-of-the-Year. Complete Release

In that same balloting, Melody Duong of Austin College was named SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year and ‘Roos head coach Ryan Dodd was named SCAC Women’s Coach-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year.

Kutach, a junior from McGregor, Texas, posted a 14-6 mark at the No. 1 line for the Tigers during the season and is currently the ITA fourth-ranked singles player in the West Region. Last week she was named to the 2018 SCAC Women’s Tennis All-Tournament team after picking up the clinching point in Sunday’s 5-0 conference title victory against Southwestern. A three-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week during the 2018 season, Kutach has earned All-SCAC honors three straight seasons. She is the first Trinity student-athlete to win the POTY award since 2013 (Thavindra Ekanayake) and the 11th overall.

In the Player-of-the-Year voting, Kutach received four first-place votes while Mary Cardone of Southwestern University, last year’s winner, and Melody Duong of Austin College each received one first-place vote.

Duong, a first-year from League City, Texas, helped lead the ‘Roos to a third-place finish at last week’s SCAC Tennis Championships as Austin College battled back from an early deficit to take a hard-earned 5-4 victory over host Colorado College. Currently ranked 20th in the West Region, Duong posted a 10-6 overall mark (8-4 at No. 1 singles) in her first year in Sherman and is the highest-ranked singles player in the league among first-year players. Teamed with Grace Ortiz, the ‘Roos duo is ranked 13th among West Region doubles teams. Duong is the second Austin College woman to win SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors following Cierra White in 2014.

In what was very tight balloting for Newcomer-of-the-Year, Duong received three first-place votes followed by Esther Bowers of Southwestern University who received two votes.  Kate De Los Santos of Schreiner University received the remaining first-place vote.

In his fourth season at the helm, Dodd led the Austin College women to the program’s second-consecutive third-place finish at the SCAC Championships. The ‘Roos defeated Colorado College, 5-4, after falling behind 2-1 in the doubles competition to equal the team’s best-ever finish at the conference championships. He earned Co-Coach-of-the-Year honors a year ago before winning the award outright this season. Austin College ends the season with a 13-8 mark and ranked 11th in the West Region.

To view the entire All-SCAC Women's Tennis team, click here.

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