Scots Honored Individually as Part of NCAC Tennis Awards

Nilesh Saldanha

After helping lead The College of Wooster men’s tennis team to a 16-8 record and runner-up finish in the North Coast Athletic Conference, Hayden Schilling was named the league’s Co-Coach of the Year and the Scots’ No. 2 singles player, freshman Will Morrison (Delaware, Ohio / Rutherford. B. Hayes), garnered NCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, announced the conference office Thursday.

Joining Morrison on the All-NCAC First Team was Wooster’s No. 1 singles player and regionally-ranked Nilesh Saldanha (Bombay, India). Saldanha and fellow countryman Nikhil Gonsalves (Bombay, India) were selected first-team all-conference as a doubles team, while representing the Scot women’s team was freshman Joanna Tysko (Athens, Ohio / Athens), who earned second-team all-league accolades in singles.

Saldanha, the 2003 NCAC Player of the Year, went 14-5 at the top of the order this spring, and currently is waiting on a possible invitation to the NCAA Div. III Tournament as an individual. Saldanha, rated No. 5 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings for the Central Region, currently sports a career record of 54-25, including 43-24 at No. 1 singles, which ranks him eighth in school history in total victories and third in wins at No. 1.

Morrison gave the Scots a boost at the top of the lineup, combining for a 10-9 singles record while playing primarily at No. 2 (8-8). He did pick up a pair of victories at No. 1 when filling in for Saldanha, and his best showing was a straight-set win (6-4, 6-2) over Kenyon College’s Mike Herrick, who was No. 30 in the ITA national singles rankings after the fall season.

Teaming at No. 1 doubles for nearly every match were Saldanha and Gonsalves. The duo, which had only played with each other seven times (4-3) prior to this season, compiled 12 wins at the top of the lineup (12-6).

For Schilling, it marks his fifth NCAC Coach-of-the-Year award during a 25-year tenure as head coach of Wooster’s men’s team. He shared this spring’s award with Oberlin College’s Don Hunsinger, marking the second time the two have been NCAC Co-Coaches of the Year together (1989). This season, the Scots improved six wins and posted their best record since 1999 (18-5), as Schilling, who also coached the women’s team for the first time, raised his career mark to 364-211.

Tysko, like Morrison, made a major impact as a first-year. She started at No. 1 singles for all 20 of Wooster’s matches, compiling a 9-8 record (three were not completed due to matches played to decision). Tysko’s presence helped the Scots, as a team, improve from 5-11 to 10-10 overall.