Anderson Women's Tennis Sweeps Major HCAC Awards
October 21, 2019
Anderson University women's tennis standout Katrina Berban (Seguin, Texas/New Braunfels) was tabbed the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Player of the Year and the HCAC Freshman of the Year while Anderson tennis head coach Bryant Beard was selected as the HCAC Coach of the Year, which was announced by the conference on Monday.
The Ravens are currently 14-2 on the season and captured the HCAC regular-season title after finishing 7-0 in conference play. Anderson reached the HCAC Tournament Championship before falling to third-seeded Transylvania University (9-3) on Sunday. The Ravens won 14 matches in a row and broke the previous school wins record of 10. Anderson will continue its season with competition in the Spring.
"I have been humbled by the support from this campus community and my coworkers through the season," Beard commented. "I have a lot of love for this institution and I just want to do my part to give back what it has given to me. I am blessed every day to coach the sport that I love with such wonderful student-athletes. Any success that I have is just a symbol of the work they put in."
Berban currently holds a 14-0 record at No. 1 singles and compiled a 7-0 record at No. 1 singles in conference play. The freshman from Seguin, Texas collected five HCAC Player-of-the-Week awards during the season. Berban has also turned in a 13-3 record at No. 1 doubles this season.
"I'm really honored to have won Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year," Berban acknowledged. "I had my eyes set on those two awards early in the season, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy especially because there's a lot of tough players in this conference and I knew I would have to play well to get past them. I've got a great group of people around me that help push my limits and lift me up when I need it, without them I'm not sure I could have done as well as I did this season. This was a great start to my collegiate career and I'm really excited to see what myself and this team will do next."
Berban, Jasmine Blair (Clearwater, Fla./Homeschool/Largo), Claire Miller (Indianapolis, Ind./Homeschool) and Jordyn Roper (Belleville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) each garnered first-team all-conference recognition. Allison Newman (Greenwood, Ind./Greenwood) and Anna Creech (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) also received HCAC all-conference honorable mention.
Blair holds an 11-4 singles record and a 12-3 doubles record at No. 1 doubles. Miller has racked up a 13-2 singles record and a 9-7 doubles record. Roper so far has compiled a 13-1 singles record and an 11-4 doubles record.
Newman has recorded a 7-7 record at No. 2 singles this season and is currently 9-7 at No. 2 doubles. Creech has put together an 8-3 singles record and an 8-2 doubles record for the year.
With the wins, records and accolades established this season, Anderson expects to be a perennial contender in the conference.
"The team showed a lot of resilience this season and I think we've proved that we're a real threat in this conference. We had some great wins and some tough losses this season but we achieved all of our personal and team goals and are looking forward to push the limits and see how far we can go. It was a disappointing loss to Transylvania in the final, but we have a lot to be proud of despite falling short in the end."
The Ravens are currently 14-2 on the season and captured the HCAC regular-season title after finishing 7-0 in conference play. Anderson reached the HCAC Tournament Championship before falling to third-seeded Transylvania University (9-3) on Sunday. The Ravens won 14 matches in a row and broke the previous school wins record of 10. Anderson will continue its season with competition in the Spring.
"I have been humbled by the support from this campus community and my coworkers through the season," Beard commented. "I have a lot of love for this institution and I just want to do my part to give back what it has given to me. I am blessed every day to coach the sport that I love with such wonderful student-athletes. Any success that I have is just a symbol of the work they put in."
Berban currently holds a 14-0 record at No. 1 singles and compiled a 7-0 record at No. 1 singles in conference play. The freshman from Seguin, Texas collected five HCAC Player-of-the-Week awards during the season. Berban has also turned in a 13-3 record at No. 1 doubles this season.
"I'm really honored to have won Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year," Berban acknowledged. "I had my eyes set on those two awards early in the season, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy especially because there's a lot of tough players in this conference and I knew I would have to play well to get past them. I've got a great group of people around me that help push my limits and lift me up when I need it, without them I'm not sure I could have done as well as I did this season. This was a great start to my collegiate career and I'm really excited to see what myself and this team will do next."
Berban, Jasmine Blair (Clearwater, Fla./Homeschool/Largo), Claire Miller (Indianapolis, Ind./Homeschool) and Jordyn Roper (Belleville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) each garnered first-team all-conference recognition. Allison Newman (Greenwood, Ind./Greenwood) and Anna Creech (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) also received HCAC all-conference honorable mention.
Blair holds an 11-4 singles record and a 12-3 doubles record at No. 1 doubles. Miller has racked up a 13-2 singles record and a 9-7 doubles record. Roper so far has compiled a 13-1 singles record and an 11-4 doubles record.
Newman has recorded a 7-7 record at No. 2 singles this season and is currently 9-7 at No. 2 doubles. Creech has put together an 8-3 singles record and an 8-2 doubles record for the year.
With the wins, records and accolades established this season, Anderson expects to be a perennial contender in the conference.
"The team showed a lot of resilience this season and I think we've proved that we're a real threat in this conference. We had some great wins and some tough losses this season but we achieved all of our personal and team goals and are looking forward to push the limits and see how far we can go. It was a disappointing loss to Transylvania in the final, but we have a lot to be proud of despite falling short in the end."
