From Case Western Reserve University Athletics

Case Western Reserve University senior James Hopper was named the National Senior Player of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, while Wade Heerboth was selected as the National Assistant Coach of the Year after each played a key role in helping lead the Spartans to the first NCAA Division III Championship in department history in 2023.

This was the first time in program history that a Spartan has claimed either award on the National level.

The honors came after Hopper and Heerboth were named the ITA Central Region Senior Player and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively, last week, making them each eligible for the national honor. The Senior Player of the Year honors the senior student-athlete who had the best year among all student-athletes in his class, while the Assistant Coach of the Year award recognizes an assistant coach who has exhibited outstanding leadership in ways that contribute to on and off-court team performance.

Hopper is coming off one of the best individual seasons in program history, earning All-America honors for both singles and doubles for the fourth-straight season after winning the NCAA DIII Doubles Championship with Aduru and reaching the quarterfinals of the singles draw. He became the second CWRU men's tennis player ever to garner UAA Most Valuable Player honors and was named to the All-UAA First Team for his play at no. 1 singles and doubles. He finished the season with a 44-4 doubles record, setting a program record for doubles wins in a campaign, while also finishing his career as the program's all-time leader in doubles wins and winning percentage with a 128-13 record. In singles matches, he went 28-4 (just two singles wins away from the program record) to improve to 82-19 over his career, the fourth-most wins and seventh-best winning percentage in team history.

See the ITA's Recognition of James Hopper

Heerboth has served as an assistant coach for the Spartans since the 2016 season, helping guide the team to the most successful stretch in team history. The squad has made four NCAA postseason appearances with Heerboth on the staff, including the NCAA Championship run this year, second-place finishes in 2021 and 2022, and a trip to the round of 16 in 2016. The Spartans have gone 172-46 (.789) during his eight seasons with the team, including a 90-13 (.874) mark over the last four years.

See the ITA's Recognition of Wade Heerboth

The Spartans won the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship earlier in May, capping off a historic season for the program with the first-ever NCAA team title in the history of CWRU Athletics. The Spartans set a program record with a 33-4 mark while winning the ITA Indoor National Championship for the second-straight year and the UAA Championship for the first time in program history.